J.N. Adams Collection

THE LATIN
SEXUAL
VOCABULARY

J.N. Adams

Duckworth

THE LATIN SEXUAL VOCABULARY
J. N. Adams

Like other languages, Latin had a group of
words which speakers regarded as basic
obscenities, as well as a rich stock of sexual
euphemisms and metaphors. At the lower
end of the social and stylistic scale evidence
for Latin sexual terminology comes from
numerous graffiti. On the other hand
certain literary genres had a marked
sexual content.

The Latin sexual vocabulary has never
been systematically investigated, despite
its linguistic and literary interest. This
book collects for the first time the evidence
provided by both non-literary and literary
sources from the early Republic down to
about the fourth century a.d.

Separate chapters are given to each of
die sexual parts of the body, and to the
terminology used to describe sexual acts.
General topics treated include lexical
differences between various literary genres,
the influence of Greek on Latin, dia¬
chronic changes within the vocabulary,
and the weakening of sexual words into
general terms of abuse.

This is a fundamental book in every
sense.

J. N. Adams is Senior Lecturer in Latin in
the University of Manchester.

ISBN o 7156 1648 X

DUCKWORTH

THE LATIN
SEXUAL
VOCABULARY

THE LATIN
SEXUAL
VOCABULARY

J. N. Adams

Duckworth

First published in 1982 by
Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.,

The Old Piano Factory,

43 Gloucester Crescent, London NW1

© 1982 by J. N. Adams

All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publisher

ISBN 0 7156 1648 X (cased)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Adams, J.N.

The Latin sexual vocabulary.

1. Latin Language—Terms and phrases

2. Words, Obscene
I. Title

470.81 PA2320

ISBN 0-7156-1648-X

Typeset by Input Typesetting Limited, London
and printed by

Unwin Brothers Limited, Old Woking

Contents

Preface vii

Abbreviations ix

I INTRODUCTION 1

1 Some types of sexual and excretory language 1

2 Some functions of sexual language in Latin 4

II MENTVLA AND ITS SYNONYMS 9

1 Basic obscenities 9

2 Metaphors 14

3 Euphemisms 44

4 Miscellaneous 62

5 Some specialised terms 66

6 Attitudes to the male genitalia 77

III DESIGNATIONS OF THE FEMALE GENITALIA 80

1 Cunnus 80

2 Metaphors 82

3 Some euphemisms 90

4 Miscellaneous usages 95

5 Parts of the female genitalia 97

IV CVLVS AND ITS SYNONYMS 110

1 Basic words 110

2 Metaphors 112

3 Euphemisms 115

4 Miscellaneous 116

vi Contents

V THE VOCABULARY RELATING TO SEXUAL

ACTS 118

1 Basic obscenities and some other direct words 118

2 Metaphors 138

3 Metonymy 170

4 Some elliptical euphemisms 202

5 Terminology appropriate to animals 205

6 Masturbor and its synonyms 208

7 Substitutes for fellare and irrumare 211

VI CONCLUSION 214

1 Sociolinguistic and contextual variation 214

2 Generic variation 218

3 Chronological variation 225

4 The influence of Greek 228

APPENDIX: THE VOCABULARY RELATING TO
BODILY FUNCTIONS 231

1 Defecation 231

2 Urination 245

3 Pedo and its alternatives 249

Addenda and Corrigenda 251

Index 257

1 Latin 257

2 Greek 266

3 General 268

Preface

In recent years a good deal of interest has been shown in the
sexual content of ancient literature. This book deals exclu¬
sively with the vocabulary of sex. My aim has been to describe
and classify the varieties of language used in Latin to refer to
sexual parts of the body, sexual acts and excretion. The sexual
vocabulary of Latin is of both literary and semantic interest.
Sexual behaviour has a place in numerous literary genres,
such as epigram, satire, elegy, comedy, mime and farce, and
the terminology in which that behaviour is described can vary
revealingly from genre to genre, and also within a genre. The
conventions of a genre, the tastes of its exponents, and the
tastes of the age in which a literary work was composed, can
all be illuminated by the study of sexual language. Some years
ago I began to write a series of articles on different aspects of
the Latin sexual vocabulary, and indeed a few of these have
appeared. But it seemed worthwhile when the chance arose to
bring the evidence together in one place.

The subject is a big one. Almost any object or practice can
acquire a sexual symbolism in a suggestive context. More than
800 words are listed in the index of Latin words, and I should
not wish to claim that I have been absolutely exhaustive. The
book would be very much longer than it is if I had set out to
translate the passages cited, or to discuss at length every crux
containing a sexual usage. I have attempted to cover all the
semantic areas from which sexual terminology in Latin was
drawn, while restricting myself to reasonable limits of space.
I have also tried to keep the book free from fanciful specula¬
tions, since I have no sympathy with the current mania for
discovering obscene double entendres in unlikely places.

I have been particularly fortunate to have such learned and

viii Preface

wide-ranging colleagues as D. M. Bain and H. D. Jocelyn. Both
have been intermittently engaged in researches of a similar
kind, not all of which have yet been published. They have
supplied me with much information, and discussed with me
countless passages over the years. K.-D. Fischer gave me use¬
ful advice on various medical and veterinary passages.

I am grateful to the publishers for taking the book on, and
for the impressive speed and efficiency with which it was seen
through the press.

Manchester, 1982 J.N.A.

Abbreviations

Adams, 'Anatomical
terminology’

Adams, Cuius

Adams,

'Euphemism’

Adams, Pars pro toto

Audollent
Brandt, Am.

Brandt, Ars
CE

CGL

Chantraine

CIL

Citroni

J. N. Adams, 'Anatomical terminology
in Latin epic’, BICS 27 (1980),
pp. 50ff.

J. N. Adams, 'Cuius, clunes and their
synonyms in Latin’, Glotta 59
(1981), pp. 23Iff.

J. N. Adams, 'A type of sexual
euphemism in Latin’, Phoenix 35
(1981), pp. 120ff.

J. N. Adams, 'Anatomical terms used
pars pro toto in Latin’, forthcoming
in PACA.

A. Audollent, Defixionum tabellae
quotquot innotuerunt (Paris, 1904).

P. Brandt, P. Ovidi Nasonis Amorum
Libri Tres (Leipzig, 1911).

P. Brandt, P. Ovidi Nasonis De Arte
Amatoria Libri Tres (Leipzig, 1902).

F. Buecheler - E. Lommatzsch,
Carmina Latina Epigraphica
(Leipzig, 1897-1926).

G. Goetz, Corpus Glossariorum
Latinorum (Leipzig and Berlin,
1888-1923).

P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire
dymologique de la langue grecque
(Paris, 1968-80).

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

M. Citroni, M. Valerii Martialis
Epigrammaton Liber Primus
(Florence, 1975).

X

Cohen

Courtney

Dover

Ernout and Meillet

Fehling

FEW

FJGA

Forberg

Fraenkel, Elementi
Plautini
Frassinetti

GL

Goldberger
Graffiti del Palatino

Grassmann
Herter, De Priapo

Abbreviations

G. Cohen, La «comedie» latine en
France au XII e si&cle (Paris, 1931).

E. Courtney, A Commentary on the
Satires of Juvenal (London, 1980).

K. J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality
(London, 1978).

A. Ernout and A. Meillet,

Dictionnaire etymologique de la
langue latine 4 (Paris, 1959).

D. Fehling, Ethologische
Uberlegungen auf dem Gebiet der
Altertumskunde (Munich, 1974).

W. von Wartburg, Franzosisches
etymologisches Worterbuch (Bonn,
etc., 1928-69).

Fontes iuris Germanici in usum
scholarum (MGH).

F. C. Forberg, Antonii Panormitae
Hermaphroditus, primus in
Germania edidit et apophoreta
adiecit F.CF. (Coburg, 1824).

E. Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini in
Plauto (Florence, 1960).

P. Frassinetti, Atellanae Fabulae 2
(Rome, 1967).

H. Keil, Grammatici Latini (Leipzig,
1855-78).

W. Goldberger, 'Kraftausdrucke im
Vulgarlatein’, Glotta 18 (1930),
pp. 8ff„ 20 (1932), pp. lOlff.

V. Vaananen (gen. ed.), Graffiti del
Palatino: I, Paedagogium, ed. H.
Solin and M. Itkonen-Kaila; II,
Domus Tiberiana, ed. P. Castr6n
and H. Lilius (Acta Instituti
Romani Finlandiae, vols. III-IV,
Helsinki 1966, 1970).

V. Grassmann, Die erotischen Epoden
des Horaz (Munich, 1966).

H. Herter, De Priapo
(Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche
und Vorarbeiten 23, Giessen, 1932).

Abbreviations

xi

Herter, 'Genitalien’
Herter, 'Phallos’
Hey

Housman, Classical
Papers

Jocelyn

Krenkel
Kroll
Lehmann
Lewis and Short
L-S-J

Mariotti

Marx

MGH

Nisbet and Hubbard

I

Nisbet and Hubbard

II

Oder

H. Herter, 'Genitalien’, RAC X, Iff.

H. Herter, 'Phallos’, RE XIX.2.1681ff.

O. Hey, 'Euphemismus und
Verwandtes im Lateinischen’, ALL
11(1900), pp. 515ff.

J. Diggle and F. R. D. Goodyear, The
Classical Papers of A. E. Housman
(Cambridge, 1972).

H. D. Jocelyn and B. P. Setchell,
Regnier de Graaf, On the Human
Reproductive Organs (Journal of
Reproduction and Fertility,
Supplement no. 17, 1972).

W. A. Krenkel, 'Fellatio and irrumatio’,
WZ Rostock 29 (1980), pp. 77ff.

W. Kroll, C. Valerius Catullus
(Leipzig and Berlin, 1923).

P. Lehmann, Die Parodie im
Mittelalter 2 (Stuttgart, 1963).

C. T. Lewis and C. Short, A Latin
Dictionary (Oxford, 1879).

H. G. Liddell, R. Scott and H. S.

Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon 9 ,
with Supplement (Oxford, 1968).

S. Mariotti, 'Lo spurcum
additamentum ad Apul. Met. 10,21’,
SIFC N.S. 27-28 (1956), pp. 229ff„

= id. Scritti medievali e umanistici
(Rome, 1976), pp. 47ff.

F. Marx, C. Lucilii Carminum
Reliquiae (Leipzig, 1904-5).

Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

R. G. M. Nisbet and Margaret
Hubbard, A Commentary on
Horace: Odes Book 1 (Oxford, 1970).

R. G. M. Nisbet and Margaret
Hubbard, A Commentary on
Horace: Odes, Book II (Oxford,

1978).

E. Oder, Claudii Hermeri
Mulomedicina Chironis (Leipzig,
1901).

Abbreviations

xii

OLD

Opelt

Otto

Pierrugues

Pokomy

Preston

RAC

RE

REW

Shipp

Svennung

Taillardat

TLL
Tr ankle

Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford,
1968-82).

I. Opelt, 'Euphemismus’, RAC VI,
947ff.

A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und
sprichwortlichen Redensarten der
Romer (Leipzig, 1890).

P. Pierrugues, Glossarium Eroticum
Linguae Latinae (Paris, 1826).

J. Pokomy, Indogermanisches
etymologisch.es Worterbuch (Bern,
1959-69).

K. Preston, Studies in the Diction of
the Sermo Amatorius in Roman
Comedy (Diss. Chicago, 1916).

Reallexikon fur Antike und
Christentum.

Paulys Real-Encyclopadie der

classischen Altertumswissenschaft.

W. Meyer-Lflbke, Romanisches
etymologisches Worterbuch 3
(Heidelberg, 1935).

G. P. Shipp, Modern Greek Evidence
for the Ancient Greek Vocabulary
(Sydney, 1979).

J. Svennung, Wortstudien zu den
spdtlateinischen
Oribasiusrezensionen (Uppsala
Universitets Arsskrift 1933, Band
HI, Bil. D).

J. Taillardat, Les images
d’Aristophane 2 (Paris, 1965).

Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.

H. Tr&nkle, Die Sprachkunst des
Properz und die Tradition der
lateinischen Dichtersprache

( Hermes , Einzelschriften, Heft 15,
Wiesbaden, 1960).

Chapter One

Introduction

The Latin sexual language has never been exhaustively dis¬
cussed, although useful collections of material and comments
on individual passages are to be found in various places. Of
older works those by Pierrugues and Forberg are worthy of
mention. Goldberger’s often quoted articles contain much that
is interesting, but are marred by inaccuracy. Some other schol¬
ars who have touched on the subject are Hey, Housman,
Hopfner, 1 Opelt, Herter, Grassmann and Jocelyn. Of commen¬
tators on individual authors I mention in particular Brandt,
Kroll and Citroni. 2

1. Some types of sexual and excretory language

A language will generally have a set of words which can be
classified as the most direct and obscene terms for sexual parts
of the body and for various sexual and excretory acts. As a
rule basic obscenities have no other, primary, sense to soften
their impact. 3 They are unusable in polite conversation, 4 most
genres of literature, and even in some genres which might be
thought obscene in subject matter. Some of the Latin obscen-

1 T. Hopfner, Das Sexualleben der Griechen und R6mer I (Prague, 1938).

1 On Greek, note Taillardat and Dover. J. Henderson, The Maculate Muse:
Obscene Language in Attic Comedy (New Haven and London, 1975) is so
inaccurate that I have chosen not to refer to it.

* They may of course in origin have been metaphorical, but metaphors often
fade.

4 On the unacceptability of the direct terminology in Latin, see Amob. Nat.
3.10 'genitalium membrorum . .. foeditates, quas ex oribus [oribus P, moribus
Reififerscheid] uerecundis infame est suis appellationibus promere’ (cf. Cels.
6.18.1).

2 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ities are well represented in the Romance languages, where
their reflexes often retain a substandard flavour. There is not
necessarily an exact correspondence between languages in the
components of their sets of basic terms. Irrumo, for example,
has no equivalent in English. Within the set, the various words
may differ in offensiveness. In English the obscenity for the
female parts would probably be considered by most speakers
to be coarser and more emotive than any word for the male
organ. In a dead language it is not possible to classify obscen¬
ities by degrees of offensiveness with any precision. One can
set up a group of obscenities on the evidence partly of com¬
ments by Latin writers themselves, and partly of the distri¬
bution and use of certain words. But neither ancient comments
nor distributions permit one to establish subtle distinctions of
tone. Nevertheless there are signs that mentula, cunnus, cuius,
futuo, pedico and irrumo were more offensive than coleus, fello,
ceueo and criso. And in the excretory sphere basic words for
'urinate’ (meio, mingo) seem to have been less emotive than
that for 'defecate’ (coco; cf. merda, pedo), though coco itself
may have been milder than the sexual obscenities (on excre¬
tory terminology, see the Appendix). The obscenities dealt
with here are mentula, uerpa, cunnus, coleus, futuo, pedico,
irrumo, fello, ceueo, criso. Cuius I have discussed in detail
elsewhere, 1 but a summary of the evidence is given in Chapter
IV. Those words which can be identified as basic obscenities
from the comments of Latin writers (notably mentula, cunnus,
futuo , pedico ) have a distinctive distribution: they are common
in graffiti and epigram (Catullus, Martial, the Corpus Pria-
peorum), but almost entirely absent from other varieties of
literature (including satire, if one excludes the first book of
Horace’s Sermones). 2 Certain sexual or excretory words not
commented on in Latin literature which show the same dis¬
tribution can plausibly be regarded as similar in status. It
remains to add that various words of infrequent attestation
are impossible to categorise (e.g. muto, sopio, salaputium). The
important question to what extent the basic obscenities of
Latin shed their primary senses and deteriorated into general
abusive terms is dealt with below, pp. 132ff.

Metaphors and euphemistic designations provide the bulk

1 Adams, Cuius.

3 Basic obscenities would also have been used in farce and mime: see p. 219.

Introduction

3

of attested terms for sexual parts of the body and sexual acts
in Latin. In a suggestive context almost any object or activity
may be interpreted as a sexual image. The following general
observations concerning the use of metaphors will be illus¬
trated in the course of the book:

(а) Many sexual metaphors are not current in any variety
of a language, but uttered off-the-cuff, particularly in jokes or
to display linguistic inventiveness. Or a word used in a literal,
non-sexual sense may be deliberately misunderstood, even
though it possesses no established sexual meaning. Most sex¬
ual metaphors heard in a language may well be ad hoc coin¬
ages; certainly in Latin many metaphors seem to be of this
type. The coining of metaphors was especially characteristic
of Plautine comedy, Atellane farce and mime.

(б) The tone and implication of established metaphors var¬
ies. Some are slang terms with an offensive tone, others may
be acceptable in educated parlance. The metaphor of ploughing
in English, for example, has a literary flavour. Anus was a
scientific term in Latin. The medical languages in Greek and
Latin contain a number of anatomical metaphors of a sexual
kind.

(c) Metaphors constantly fade; indeed basic obscenities may
originate as metaphors (e.g. irrumo, perhaps futuo). In Greek
•yap-eiv, originally a metaphor when applied to intercourse,
eventually displaced the obscenity piveiv. By the time of Cicero
penis had lost its literal sense; it is likely that some speakers
did not interpret the sexual meaning as metaphorical.

Most sexual euphemisms refer to the sexual part or act by
a name which is not its own (metonymy). In the case of the
sexual organs the euphemism may strictly describe an adjoin¬
ing part, or an extensive area of the body within which the
sexual part is located (specialisation). In the case of sexual
acts it is usually an act or event concomitant or associated
with the sexual penetration which is mentioned. Another form
of euphemism is ellipse, aposiopesis or the substitution of a
pronoun for an indelicate noun, or pro-verb (facio) for an in¬
delicate verb. I have dealt with euphemistic omissions
elsewhere, 1 and offer here only a few examples.

1 Adams, 'Euphemism’.

4

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary
2. Some functions of sexual language in Latin

(i) Apotropaic and ritual obscenity

Apotropaic obscenities for the warding off of the evil eye or
evil influences of an unspecific kind played an important part
in various spheres of Italian life. Obscenities were shouted at
triumphs. 1 Note especially Suet. Iul. 49.4 'Gallico denique
triumpho milites eius inter cetera carmina, qualia currum
prosequentes ioculariter canunt, etiam illud uulgatissimum
pronuntiauerunt:

Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem:
ecce Caesar nunc triumphat qui subegit Gallias,

Nicomedes non triumphat qui subegit Caesarem.’

The other couplet quoted by Suetonius from the same triumph
contains effutuisti (Iul. 51); it is highly likely that basic ob¬
scenities had an important place in apotropaic verses. In the
carmen quoted above there is a play on the double sense of
subigo, and Suetonius speaks of the soldiers as singing iocu¬
lariter. Laughter and jokes often have a ritual function. 2 For
the persistence of jests at triumphs under the Empire, see
Mart. 1.4.3, 7.8.9f.

It was not only obscene language which was apotropaic, but
also phallic representations and illustrations. 3 Sometimes the
two, language and representation, go hand in hand. The trium-
phator had a phallic bulla (Macrob. Sat. 1.6.9 'quam in trium¬
pho prae se gerebant inclusis intra earn remediis quae
crederent aduersus inuidiam ualentissima’), and a phallus was
hung under his car as a medicos inuidiae (Plin. Nat. 28.39).

Obscene verses (Fescennines) were sung at weddings: see
Paul. Fest. p. 76 'Fescennini uersus qui canebantur in nuptiis,
ex urbe Fescennina dicuntur allati, siue ideo dicti, quia fas-
cinum putabantur arcere’. Such songs were sung especially by

1 For the early period, see Livy 3.29.5, with R. M. Ogilvie, A Commentary
on Livy, Books 1-5 (Oxford, 1965), ad loc.

1 See N. J. Richardson, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Oxford, 1974),
pp. 214ff. for examples from various cultures of ritualistic jests, laughter and
obscenity.

’See Herter, 'Phallos’, 1719ff., especially 1733ff. For a phallic drawing
accompanied by the words 'hie habitat Felicitas’, see CIL IV.1454; on phallic
statues in the forum and in gardens, see Plin. Nat. 19.50, where it is observed
that they were placed 'contra inuidentium effascinationes'.

Introduction

5

boys (Varro Men. 10, Fest. p. 284). 1 There was also a physical
representation of the phallus in the marriage ceremony (at
least in the early period). The bride was compelled to sit on
the phallus of the ithyphallic god Mutunus Tutunus (Lact.
Inst. 1.20.36, Aug. Ciu. 6.9, 7.24). 2 This rite was no doubt
intended to promote fertility as well as ward off evil. 3 These
two functions of an object or utterance, as apotropaic and
conferring fertility, are often impossible to separate: by ful¬
filling the first the object assists in the second. 4 5 *

At the festival of Liber phalluses were placed in carts and
displayed at crossroads in the country and even taken into the
city (see Aug. Ciu. 7.21 (cf. 7.24)). s At Lavinium a month was
set aside for the festival, a feature of which was the uttering
of obscenities (Aug. loc. cit. 'cuius diebus omnes uerbis flagi-
tiosissimis uterentur’). The two functions of the obscenities
(and phallic display) again cannot be separated (Aug. loc. cit.
'sic uidelicet Liber deus placandus fuerat pro euentibus sem-
inum, sic ab agris fascinatio repellenda’).

At the festival of the Floralia in April mimes marked by
obscenity were performed by prostitutes, who took the place of
mimae : Lact. Inst. 1.20.10 'praeter uerborum licentiam, quibus
obscenitas omnis effunditur’. 8 The prostitutes also stripped at
the demand of the spectators (Lact. loc. cit.). It is a common
folk belief that indecent exposure may amuse and please a
god, 7 although there is no specific evidence that this was con¬
sidered to be the purpose of the exposure at the Floralia.

Whatever the origin and function of the goddess Anna Per-
enna, at her festival on 15 March obscenities were chanted by
girls: Ovid Fast. 3.675f. 'nunc mihi cur can tent superest ob-
scena puellae / dicere; nam coeunt certaque probra canunt’ (cf.

1 On Feacennine verses, see further G. Wissowa, 'Fescennini versus’, RE
VI.2.2222f.

2 Cf. Herter, 'Phallos’, 1719f„ RhM 76 (1927), p. 423, ’Geriitalien’, 15.

3 Cf. Herter, RhM, loc. cit.

* So Priapus was both efficacious against the evil eye (Herter, De Priapo, p.
Ill, nos. 81-2) and also a god of fertility (Herter, op. cit., p. 225).

5 On Liber, see Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Romer 2 (Munich, 1912),
pp. 297fF. On the festival, see Herter, 'Phallos’, 1722; cf. 'Genitalien’, 15.

• On the indecency of the Floralia, see also Val. Max. 2.10.8, Mart, l.prooem.,
HA., Hel. 6.5, Tert. Sped. 17.2-3.

7 See Richardson (see above, p. 4 n. 2), pp. 215ff.

6 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

695). There can be little doubt that these verses were intended
in origin to be apotropaic or to promote fertility. 1

Maledicta and probra were spoken when various herbs were
planted (Plin. Nat. 19.120, Pallad. Rust. 4.9.14). Presumably
these utterances were obscene (for the sense of probra , see
Ovid, Fast. 3.676 above). 2

Whether on non-ritual occasions obscenities were deliber¬
ately uttered as apotropaic, just as various obscene gestures
could be made for the same purpose (the fica, the corna, the
digitus impudicus extended), 3 is unclear. Note Eph. Epigr. III.
p. 137 no. Ill 'inuidiosis mentula’ (accompanying a drawing
of a phallus). Presumably the word might accompany a ges¬
ture, just as in the inscription it supports a drawing. At CIL
III. 10189.16 ('Dindari, uiuas et inuidis mentla’, on a ring) the
word appears to be apotropaic on its own.

(ii) Aggression and humiliation

Just as a sexual violation may be inflicted on an enemy as a
punishment, so sexual threats or sexual abuse may be directed
at someone as a means of venting aggression. I shall deal with
the aggressive use of obscenities below (pp. 124, 128, 133f.).

(iii) Humour and outrageousness

Sexual language may have a humorous purpose. Dirty jokes
probably have a place in all societies. For some sexual jokes
made by Cicero, see Att. 2.1.5 and Quint. 6.3.75. Vespasian’s
jokes were sometimes in the most direct terminology (praetex-
tata uerba) (Suet. Vesp. 22; cf. 23.1 for a sexual pun ascribed
to the emperor). There is an interesting collection of jokes,
some of them sexual, to be found at Macrob. Sat. 2.2-6. The
humorous use of sexual language is to some extent linked with

1 See K. Latte, Romische Religionsgeschichte (Munich, 1960), pp. 137f., J.
G. Frazer, Publii Ouidii Nasonis Fastorum Libri Sex, vol. 3 (London, 1929),
pp. 11 If.

2 See Henderson (mentioned above, p. 1 n. 2), p. 14.

3 For apotropaic obscene gestures, see Ovid Fast. 6.433, and O. Jahn, 'Uber
den Aberglauben des bosen Blicks bei den Alten’, Berichte uber die Vehandl.
d. sacks. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Klasse 7 (1855), pp. 80ff., C. Sittl, Die
Gebarden der Griechen und Rdmer (Leipzig, 1890), pp. lOOff., F. T. Elworthy,
The Evil Eye (London, 1895), pp. 242, 255ff, 258ff., Herter, 'Phallos’, 1739f.,
'Genitalien’, 18f.

Introduction

7

the apotropaic and aggressive. 1 The obscenities spoken at wed¬
dings may have been apotropaic, but they were looked upon
as jokes as well (Catull. 61.12 0 Fescennina iocatio ); indeed one
may wonder whether the apotropaic function was forgotten by
the late Republic, and the ribaldry enjoyed for its own sake
(as at modern European weddings). We have already seen that
the obscenities associated with triumphs were regarded as
jokes.

Martial insists again and again that his epigrams (he
usually has in mind those with a sexual content) are ioci, and
meant to provoke laughter (see 11.15.3). They were appro¬
priate to the Saturnalia (see 4.14, 11.2.5), and the Saturnalia
was a time for ioci (10.18.3, 10.87.7). For ioci etc. see further
1. prooem., 1.4,1.35.10,13, 3.99, 4.49.2, 6.82.5, 6.85.10, 7.8.9f.,
8. prooem. In some societies at some periods oblique allusion
has been the only acceptable means of making jokes of a sexual
kind: direct language may be frowned upon as obvious and
tasteless. That Martial could use direct terminology in literary
epigram (unlike his predecessors in Greek) and still claim that
his work might be amusing to sophisticated readers (including
women: see p. 217) is something of a curiosity. To some extent
he was expecting to amuse by being deliberately outrageous
(see 11.16.7 for the nequitia of his verse contrasted with trad¬
itional grauitas (line 1); for nequitia as amusing, see 11.15.3f.,
and causing delight, 5.2.3f.; see also 6.82.5). The Romans (and
not only men) clearly enjoyed blatant sexual language on
special occasions (e.g. at the Floralia and at the festival of
Anna Perenna) as a means of letting down their hair in con¬
travention of expected public behaviour. Even a character of
traditional gravity might be expected to abandon his seueritas
for a while on an occasion such as the Saturnalia (see 4.14).

(iv) Titillation

Obscene pictures and language may be intended to arouse the
viewer or the listener. Sexual illustrations are found in Pom¬
peian brothels, and the role of language as titillating is rec¬
ognised in the stress laid on the importance of words as an
accompaniment to intercourse (Ovid Ars 3.796, Mart. 11.60.7,

1 See S. Freud, Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious, trans. A. A. Brill
(New York, 1916), pp. 138ff. for aggression and dirty jokes.

8 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

11.104.11, Juv. 6.406). Martial claims it as a function of his
epigrams that they should arouse the reader. At 11.16.5ff. he
speaks of the stimulating effect of his verse on both males and
females. At 1.35. lOf. he says that carmina iocosa should be
arousing. And the pleasure which a woman receives from her
husband’s mentula is likened to that conferred by the word at
1.35.4f. Cf. Catull. 16.9.

Chapter Two

Mentula and its Synonyms

1. Basic obscenities

(i) Mentula

The basic obscenity for the male organ was mentula. The tone
of the word is indicated by a few remarks which Martial
makes. At 3.69.If. he singles out mentula as the archetypal
obscenity: the epigrams of a certain Cosconius are written
castis uerbis, in that they contain no mentula. At ll.15.8ff. it
is implied that mentula was the original word for the penis
and the direct term par excellence. Martial argues that the
word was in use in the time of King Numa: it was therefore
akin to English 'four letter Anglo-Saxon words’, the use of
which, at least in dictionaries, is sometimes defended because
of their antiquity. Martial avows that he will not use euphe¬
misms for mentula (8 'nec per circuitus loquatur illam, / ex
qua ...’). Similarly at Priap. 29 mentula and cunnus are
given as ideal examples of obscenities:

Obscenis, peream, Priape, si non
uti me pudet improbisque uerbis.
sed cum tu posito deus pudore
ostendas mihi coleos patentes,
cum cunno mihi mentula est uocanda.

Cicero was not prepared to use mentula openly in his discus¬
sion of obscenity ( Fam. 9.22). At Fam. 9.22.3 he refers to a
diminutive form of menta (' "ruta” et "menta” recte utrumque;
uolo mentam pusillam ita appellare ut "rutulam”; non licet’).
In the next sentence ('belle "tectoriola”; die ergo etiam "paui-
menta” isto modo; non potes’) the diminutive form of paui-

10 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

menta which he has in mind must be pauimentula. 1 Earlier
(9.22.2) he alludes to mentula as id uerbum (Paetus, the ad¬
dressee of the letter, had clearly himself employed mentula):
'quod tu in epistula appellas suo nomine, ille tectius "penem”;
sed, quia multi, factum est tarn obscenum quam id uerbum,
quo tu usus es\ The offensive character of mentula is also
shown by the frequency with which some writers (e.g. Petron-
ius) employ instead a feminine adjective or demonstrative un¬
accompanied by the noun (see p. 62).

It is sometimes suggested that mentula was in origin a dim¬
inutive of menta, 'spearmint stalk’. 2 But it seems unlikely that
such an obscure plant would have provided such a common
name for the male organ. Sexual metaphors of any currency
owe their origin to the obvious sexual symbolism of the object
which serves as the vehicle of the metaphor. It is scarcely
conceivable that the spearmint stalk was so suggestive to so
many people that the metaphor should have caught on in the
whole community. 3 Certainly mentula was not felt by Cicero to
be metaphorical, though that is not decisive against a meta¬
phorical origin for the word. His use of suo nomine at Fam.
9.22.2, quoted above, shows that for him it had no other more
basic meaning (whereas, for example, anus was strictly the
name for something else (= 'ring’): note alieno nomine in the
same passage: ' "anum” appellas alieno nomine; cur non suo
potius?’). His reference to a diminutive form of menta was not
offered as an etymology, but was a means of avoiding explicit
use of the obscenity.

Mentula is found 18 times in the Pompeian inscriptions and
3 times in the Graffiti del Palatino. It is the most common
word for the male organ in Catullus (8 times, twice in iambics
(29.13, 37.3) and 6 times in elegiac epigrams (94.1 twice, 105.1,
114.1, 115.1, 115.8); I include examples of the nickname Men¬
tula given to Mamurra (?)). If one sought a literary precedent
for the use of basic obscenities in iambic invective, one need

1 See D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero: Epistulae ad Familiares (Cambridge,
1977), H, p. 333.

2 See, for example, P. Kretschmer, Glotta 12 (1923), pp. 105ff., 283f., Gold-
berger (1930), p. 45, Jocelyn, p. 74, Herter, 'Genitalien’, 3.

3 Pokomy offers no etymology of mentula. For the possible connection of
mentula with mens, see Chantraine III, p. 693 a. Other affiliations which have
been suggested are with the root men- (cf. mentum, emineo, mons) and with
Skt. mdnthati: see Emout and Meillet, s.v.

11

Mentula and its Synonyms

think only of Archilochus and Hipponax. 1 But although Catul¬
lus may have looked upon 29 and perhaps some other abusive
poems as written in the tradition of Archilochus or Hipponax,
a good deal of his invective is not literary, but based, both in
language and content, on real life. A good example of such
'Italian’ invective is the flagitatio, 42. 37 and 59 too, both of
them iambic, have a distinct smell of the streets. At 37.8 the
hyperbolical threat to 'ducentos inrumare sessores’ is distinc¬
tively Roman in spirit, even though the metre of the poem has
associations with Hipponax. Caesar was deliberately misun¬
derstood as making a similar threat in the senate (Suet. Iul.
22.2). An example of mentula in an epigram at 115.8, used
pars pro toto as an empty term of abuse ('non homo, Sed uero
mentula magna minax’), has parallels in graffiti (C/L IV.1776
add. p. 212 'Pilocalus mentula’, 7089 'imanis metula es’, 8931
'mentules’ (= 'mentula es’)). 2 It is in the sub-culture of low
abuse that one should seek the models for Catullus’ use of
direct obscenities. 3

* The sexual language of Archilochus was certainly metaphorical (see, e.g.
(iUK-ns = 'penis’ at 252 West, Kepa<; = 'penis’ at 247), but both Archilochus and
Hipponax also admitted obscenities (see p. 220).

2 See further Adams, Pars pro toto. For additional sexual terms emptied of
their literal meaning in Latin, see pp. 124ff.

3 Ordinary Latin speakers cast basic obscenities at one another, as the walls
of Pompeii abundantly illustrate, and one can find constant parallels in graffiti
for Catullan phraseology. But it was not only on walls that such sub-literary
sexual abuse manifested itself, nor indeed was it the exclusive preserve of the
lower classes. Scabrous libelli were circulated in the senate, and these, par¬
ticularly if anonymous (see Suet. Aug. 55), might well have been couched in
language far removed from that of formal oratory. An epigram of Augustus
directed at Antony has survived (ap. Mart. 11.20), in which there are 4
examples of futuo, 1 of pedico and 1 of mentula. 'Fescennine verses’ were
composed by Augustus against Pollio (Macr. Sat. 2.4.21). Calvus abused Cae¬
sar in epigrams (Suet. Iul. 49.1, 73.1); a fragment contains the obscenity
pedicator (Suet. Iul. 49.1). Otho and Vitellius exchanged sexual abuse in
writing (Tac. Hist. 1.74 'mox quasi rixantes stupra ac flagitia in uicem obiec-
tauere’). For examples of the language in which ordinary people might have
vented their aggression towards men of distinction, see the Perusine sling
bullets, CIL XI.6721, containing brief obscenities directed at Antony and
Octavian. Note also CIL IV.8841 'Martialis, fellas Proculum’, an inscription
alleging sexual perversion on the part of some dignitaries of a collegium. We
hear of interruptions and abuse by operae in the public assembly, and also of
obscene verses drowning out a speaker (Cic. QFr. 2.3.2 'uersus denique ob-
scenissimi in Clodium et Clodiam dicerentur’). No doubt too populi uersus of
the type mentioned by Cicero, Phil. 1.36 would on occasions have been obscene,
as would the probra uttered by soldiers with a grievance against their general
(Amm. 17.9.3).

12 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

In Greek epigram basic obscenities are rare (see p. 219). It
was presumably Catullus who introduced such words to the
genre: note Mart. 1. praef. 'lasciuam uerborum ueritatem, id
est epigrammaton linguam, excussarem, si meum esset ex-
emplum: sic scribit Catullus, sic Marsus, sic Pedo, sic Gaetu-
licus, sic quicumque perlegitur’. Mentula is by far the most
numerous word for 'penis’ in both Martial (48 times) and the
Corpus Priapeorum (26 times); for an example in an epigram
of Augustus, see p. 11 n. 3. Mentula is not admitted in satire
or indeed in any other genre with a sexual content.

The tone of mentula varies. It is often employed in abusive
contexts (e.g. Catull. 115.8; cf. the nickname Mentula), but it
could also be used quite neutrally. A man might, for example,
refer to his or someone else’s mentula as desirable to women;
if so he need not be speaking offensively, but only Latine. For
neutral uses of mentula, see, e.g. Mart. 1.58.3, 6.23.2, 7.18.12,
7.30.8, 10.63.8, Audollent 135 A.8, p. 192, in a long list of
anatomical terms used by the writer as the current voces pro-
priae. Trios could be used in the same way in Greek (e.g.
Aristoph. Ach. 1060, 1216, Lys. 124, 134, 415), as too could
xvxrdos (Lys. 1158). Basic obscenities should not be put on the
same footing as either vulgarisms or terms of abuse. A vul¬
garism I should define as a usage restricted (largely) to
lower-class speakers; an obscenity, on the other hand, is not
confined to the speech of any one social class. A direct obscenity
may be used by either a male or female when the circum¬
stances of utterance are such (as, for example, in the private
amatory language) that there is no need to cushion or distance
the allusion to the body part in any way. When uttered in a
context in which cushioning might have been expected, such
a word may take on a highly offensive tone.

(ii) Verpa

Verpa can also be classified as a vox propria for the penis; it
serves as a complement of mentula. Verpa is recorded in lit¬
erature only in Catullus (28.12), Martial (11.46.2), the Corpus
Priapeorum (34.5) and perhaps Pomponius (see below), but its
currency in vulgar speech is established by its frequency in
graffiti (see CIL IV.1655, 1884, 2360, 2415, 4876, 8617). It has

Mentula and its Synonyms 13

derivatives reflected in Italian dialects. 1 In graffiti it is notable
for its use, pars pro toto, as a term of abuse (e.g. CIL IV. 1655
'Hysocryse puer, Natalis uerpa te salutat’ (cf. 1375 'Natalis
uerpe’), 1884 'qui uerpam uissit, quid cenasse ilium putes?’,
4876 'Regulo feliciter quia uerpa est’); 2 it was undoubtedly
offensive in tone. The dictionaries usually translate uerpa as
'penis’, but the adjective uerpus as 'circumcised’ (on the evi¬
dence of Juv. 14.104, where it is applied to Jews). It is not
normally explained how two such disparate meanings could
attach to the same root, or how an adjective meaning 'circum¬
cised’ could be applied to the name Priapus by Catullus (47.4).
Kroll (on Catull. 47.4) was right to define uerpus as 'cuius
glans nimia libidine nudata est’ (= vJ/ojXos). Verpa (= 4<wXti;
the equivalence can be seen if one compares CIL IV. 1655 'Na¬
talis uerpa’ with 1363 'Antus 4 k*>\v)’) indicated a mentula with
foreskin drawn back as a result of erection, or, perhaps, ex¬
cessive sexual activity, or, in the case of the Jews, circumcision
(the Jews were also considered to be well-endowed and lustful:
Mart. 7.35.4, 7.55.6ff.). 3 Given the sense of uerpa and uerpus,
it is not surprising that they are often used when the perform¬
ance of a sexual act is at issue (although at Priap. 34.5 uerpas
indicates phallic figures). It was an aggressive homosexual act
which seems to have been most appropriately performed by a
uerpa, rather than mere fututio. This tendency to specialisa¬
tion is probably due to the fact that uerpa was not a neutral
technical term, but an emotive and highly offensive word. At
Catull. 28.12 ('nam nihilo minore uerpa / farti estis’) and CIL
IV.2360 the allusion is (metaphorically) to irrumatio. At 11.94
Martial 4 times uses uerpus of a poet qui pedicat. Verpa used
pars pro toto in the Pompeian graffiti seems to have indicated
a pedicator or irrumator (note 1884), though it was subject to
a weakening of sense. 4 Verpus .. . Priapus ille at Catull. 47.4
('uos Veraniolo meo et Fabullo / uerpus praeposuit Priapus
ille’) may have been meant to suggest an image of Piso as an

1 See REW 9237, G. Rohlfs, Dizionario dialettale delle Tre Calabrie (Halle-
Milan, 1932-4), II, p. 371, s.v. verpile (= 'stirrup - strap made with the nerve
of an ox or the member of a swine’). This derivative would suggest that in
Calabria uerpa tended to be specialised to the animal anatomy.

2 See Adams, Pars pro toto.

3 For vfiuXos used in reference to a circumcised state, see, e.g. Aristoph. Aues
507. Cf. Dover, p. 129.

* See Adams, Pars pro toto.

14 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ithyphallic figure threatening his subordinates (metaphori¬
cally) with pedicatio or irrumatio. And at Pompon. 129 Fras-
sinetti = 130 Ribbeck ('decedo cacatum. uerpa < num facta >
est ueprecula?’) uerpa is perhaps used in reference to pedicatio}
The speaker may have retired behind a bush to relieve himself,
and found that he had suffered pedicatio from the bush. Much
the same theme is found in an epigram from Pompeii: CIL
IV.8899.3f. 'Vrticae monumenta uides, discede, cacator: / non
est hie tutum culu aperire tibi’. The monument of Urtica (lit.
'nettle’) seems to be threatening the cacator with pedicatio. 2
The ueprecula (a thorn bush) could 'sting 1 in the same sense
as the urtica.

On the use of uerpa with verbs of eating and the like in
slang (Catull 28.12fi, CIL IV.1884, 2360), see p. 139.

2. Metaphors

(i) Sharp or pointed instruments

No objects are more readily likened to the penis than sharp
instruments, and it is likely that metaphors from this semantic
field abound in all languages. Most metaphors based on the
symbolism of pointed objects in Latin seem to have been ad
hoc coinages. But not all. A few words originally denoting
some sort of sharp object live on in the Romance languages as
designations for the penis. Virga Cbranch, rod’) is extensively
represented in this sense (Fr. verge, etc.). 3 In the Latin versions
of Oribasius (e.g. Syn. 1.21 La, p. 71.8 M0rland 'quibus par¬
alysis in uirga patitur’, = Aa 'ad beretri paralysin’) 4 the usage
is a caique on pa(38os, 5 6 but the reflexes in the Romance
languages suggest that the metaphor appeared independently
in popular speech: one would not as a rule expect a Grecising

1 The text here is that of Frassinetti. For conjectures along the same lines,
see M. Zickri, Hermes 91 (1963), p. 123 ('uerpa est <profecto in> ueprecula’)
and p. 384 ('Cnimirum in>’). The MSS. (see Nonius, p. 343 L.) have uepra est
ueprecula.

2 On this inscription, see W. D. Lebek, ZPE 22 (1976), pp. 287ff., L. Koenen,
ZPE 31 (1978), pp. 85f.

3 See FEW XIV, p. 500.

4 See further Svennung, p. 142, A. Souter, A Glossary of Later Latin to 600

AD. (Oxford, 1949), s.v.

6 See FEW, loc. cit.

15

Mentula and its Synonyms

usage in the extremely artificial (if vulgar) language of med¬
icine to achieve currency in everyday Latin. 1 Virga is fairly
common in both early and later Medieval Latin, in writers
who would have known it from the vernacular or popular
languages: Cassiod. Anim. 9, Migne 70, p. 1295 C 'nasus, os,
guttur, pectus, umbilicus, et genitalium uirga descendens’ (=
'the descending rod of the genital parts’), Lib. Leg. Langobard.
Pap., Leges Karoli M. 81 (82) (MGH, Leg. Tom. IV, p. 502) 'si
quis alteram praesumptiue sua sponte castrauerit et ei ambos
testiculos amputauerit, integrum widrigild suum iuxta con-
ditionem personae componat; si uirgam absciderit, similiter’.
For an example in a twelfth century comedy written in France,
see William of Blois, Alda 468 'crebros in fine salientis sen-
serat Alda / uirge singultus’. 2 In another comedy of the same
period, Babio, one manuscript (P) has mentula uirga salax at
338. 3 This phrase must have originated as a gloss on the meta¬
phorical terminology used by the author ('captus non totus
abibit. / mecum deuenient funda petraeque simul’). For an¬
other late example, see CGL III.604.14 'pranton uirga uiralis’.
In one of the versions of the Lex Salica the diminutive uirgula
is used in the same sense: Pactus Legis Salicae 29.17 (rec. C)
'si quis hominem ingenuum castrauerit aut uiriculam suam
transcapulauerit, unde mancus sit . . .’. The misspelling may
be due to a conflation with uirilia (cf. rec. B 'uirilia transca-
polauerit’). The presence of uirga and pdpSos in medical writ¬
ings is incidentally a good indication that metaphors from this
sphere are not necessarily risqu6 in tone. The sexual vocabu¬
lary of both Greek and Latin medical writings is full of meta¬
phors; from this semantic field note radius uirilis = 'penis’ at
Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.115.

Two other words of this type reflected in Romance are uectis
(> Friul. vet) and *caraculum 'stake’, a diminutive of

1 Although such a circumstance is not inconceivable. Ficus, apparently a
medical caique on ovkov, ctukuxtis, which indicated a sore on the genitalia,
became widespread in ordinary speech, to judge by the frequency of jokes in
Martial and elsewhere based on the metaphor (see Mart. 1.65.4, 4.52.2, 7.71,
12.33.2, Priap. 41.4, 50.2, and below, p. 113).

2 For this work, see Cohen.

3 For the Babio, see E. Faral, De Babione, poime comique du XII' siicle
(Paris, 1948). The poem is also published in Cohen. There is a new edition by
A. D. Fulgheri, in Commedie latine del XII e XIII secolo II (Universita di
Genova, Pubblicazioni dell’ Istituto di Filologia Classica e Medievale 61,1980).

16 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

which produced Sp. carajo. 1 Vectis is not attested in Classical
Latin, but note Lex Thuringorum (ed. C. von Schwerin, FJGA )
18 'si uectem similiter’ (sc. excusserit ; cf. 16 'qui addingo unum
uel ambos testiculos excusserit, CCC solidos componat’).

While metaphors of our type undoubtedly had a place in
popular speech and humour, one can sometimes speak of a
general literary influence operating on a Latin writer. This is
particularly the case in Priapic poetry, in which it was trad¬
itional to refer to the phallus of Priapus as a pointed object of
some sort. 2 A Latin writer who coined such a metaphor in
application to Priapus would presumably have had the trad¬
ition in mind, but his coinage would usually have been in
keeping with native Latin sexual humour. It is not so much
the individual metaphors which can be described as literary
or Grecising, but the profusion of such images in Priapic
poetry.

In Greek note Crinagoras, AJ 3 . 6.232.7 eixrropxhryryi Ilpid-mp
(crropfhryf; = 'spike’), Erycius, A. Plan. 242.1 ottXov, Leonidas,
A. Plan. 261.2 poiraXov (for the imagery, cf. Aristoph. Lys. 553
poiraXurp-os). Horace applied palus ('stake’) to the phallus of
Priapus at Serm. 1.8.5 'obscenoque ruber porrectus ab inguine
palus’. The metaphor is unique in Latin, but it has parallels
in *caraculum > Sp. carajo, and in a use of terminus in Pom-
ponius, discussed below, p. 23. With the phrase ab inguine
here, cf. a-no poupcuvwv in Erycius, A. Plan. 242.2 ws potpi> touto,
ripLT|7re, xai eu TeruXwpevov ottXov / ttcxv otto PouPwvcov ax) poo v
exxexvxas.

Martial, whose sexual vocabulary is not highly metaphori¬
cal, admits some comparable metaphors in Priapic epigrams:
6.49.3 columna (for which in the Corpus Priapeorum, see be-

1 See REW, 1672 6 (giving the etymon as *caraculum ), and C. D. Buck, A
Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages
(Chicago and London, 1949), p. 258, deriving carajo from caracium (<xapd-
kvov), which he erroneously gives as a hypothetical form (note Edict. Roth.
293 'de palo quod eat carracio’). The derivation from *caraculum is probably
correct: see FEW II.l, p. 625. There may have been two separate diminutive
forms of xapa? in use in Vulgar Latin, the one with a Greek suffix, the other
with a Latin. See further REW 1862, for reflexes of caracium.

1 For the threatening appearance of the phallus of the god in art, see the
illustrations given by Herter, De Priapo, opp. p. 96.

Mentula and its Synonyms 17

low), 1 6.73.6 inguinis arma (metaphors from weaponry are dealt
with separately below). Columna is in a non-Priapic poem at
11.51.1, but the referent is by implication likened to Priapus
(line 2).

It is of course in the Corpus Priapeorum that most cases of
such metaphors are found: 9.14, 55.4 telum, 10.8 columna, 11.3
contus, 25.1, 3 sceptrum (cf. CIL IV.1939), 2 31.3 uentris arma
(based no doubt on Martial’s inguinis arma), 43.1, 4 hasta,
63.14 pyramis, 72.4 bracchia macra (see below, p. 37). With
these examples compare Prudentius’ use of ramus, discussed
below, p. 28.

Augustine too was aware of the traditional method of de¬
scribing the phallus of Priapus. At Ciu. 7.24 he calls the organ
of Mutunus Tutunus, whom he confuses with Priapus, scapus,
'rod’: 'in celebratione nuptiarum super Priapi scapum noua
nupta sedere iubebatur’. Since an anatomical use of scapus is
allegedly attested elsewhere, the word calls for further
comment.

It has become the accepted view that scapus and capus, the
latter supposedly a deformation of scapus, are found in veter¬
inary writers with the sense 'penis’. 3 Indeed M. Niedermann 4 5
went so far as to introduce (s)capus in a gloss (CGL 11.469.52
'(paXXos habus’); on the correct reading here, see below, p. 42.®
Capus is not a predictable deformation of scapus; no such loss
of s occurred as a regular change in Latin. Clerocelicis ( Mul.
Chir. 11) = CTxXTipoKotXiois is not a parallel, since groups of
consonants in initial position in foreign words were often re¬
duced (cf., e.g. Mul. Chir. 81 terrigia = nrepvryia, 287 tisanae
= imcrdvri). The form capus for scapus (as at Vitr. 3.3.12, H)

1 A few sexual metaphors in Greek and Latin, like this, can be described as
architectural: e.g. 6piyKos ('clitoris?) in Archilochus (R. Merkelbach and M.
L. West, ZPE 14 (1974), p. 99 line 14), «k tuv KaTcryeuov, of the anus, in
Antipater or Nicarchus, AP. 11.415.3, pyramis (Priap. 63.14). Note too the
metaphor of the door (= 'cunnus' or ’anus’) (p. 89).

2 Cf. the double entendre in Matthew of Vendome, Milo 139 'oblitoque rigore
/ uultum demittit imperialis apex, / sceptra uerecundant’ (rigore and apex too
are probably intended as double entendres). For this work see Cohen.

3 See Oder, index, p. 334, s.v. capus, TLL III.384.26.

4 Glotta 2 (1910), p. 51.

5 It is also a curiosity that Niedermann believed that an alleged example of
capus in the Mulomedicina Chironis (461: see below) indicated the genitalia
of a mare. In the passage in question the author is talking about horses in
general; 'horse’ rather than 'mare’ is the predominating sense of iumentum in
the work.

18 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

is more likely to be a haphazard scribal anomaly than a pho¬
netic spelling.

At Mul. Chir. 487 (Oder: 'testes fumigato uel ligno uel oleo
cypressini scapi, uteris . . MS. cypressinis capi ) there is ob¬
viously no reason for introducing capus; indeed the false word
division in the manuscript shows how such a ghost word might
originate. Nor is the conjecture found in Oder’s index ' . . . uel
oleo cypressi, in scapo uteris’, which produces an example of
scapus = 'penis’, necessary. For the adjective, see 110 cupres-
sina (MS. cubresina). At 463, where the text reads 'perungeto
eum a capo’, there is no indication that the author had the
penis in mind. 1 The affliction in question might spread from
the head downwards (462 a summo capite iumenti); the author
is speaking of the greasing of the body, starting from the head.
For capus = caput , see CIL VI.29849a.

461, where there is another possible example of capus, is a
problematical passage. The first sentence of the chapter
('quando animal non potest stercorizare’) does not square with
the second ('si quod iumentum loteum facere non poterit’).
Since the other chapters in this part of the work begin si quod
iumentum + fut. / fut. perf., and since in the tabula (p. 130) it
is the second sentence which provides the title of the chapter
('loteum si non faciet’), it is likely that the first sentence is
secondary; perhaps it was added by someone who had found
the recipe useful for another purpose. The quando -sentence is
relevant to our passage (Oder: 'inde turundulam longam et
tenuem facito, ungito, intro in capum addito, ut anum impleat
et loteum facit’; MS. capud adito). The clause ut anum impleat
is curious, since one would expect the insertion to be in the
genitalia, or more specifically the urethra (see Col. 6.30.4
'melle decocto et sale collyrium tenue inditur foramini, quo
manat urina, uel musca uiua, uel turis mica, uel de bitumine
collyrium inseritur naturalibus’). Anum may be an emenda¬
tion by the person who added the quando -clause (obelize, or
read eum or to turn?). 2 (S)capus seems to be required by the
sense. In the corresponding passage Vegetius has scapus (Mul.
2.79.17 'in scapi ipsius foramen inserito’), and he must have
meant by that 'urethra’, to judge from the correspondence with

1 1 am grateful to Dr K.-D. Fischer for advice about the subject matter and
composition of this passage and c. 461.

2 These suggestions are Dr. Fischer’s.

Mentula and its Synonyms 19

Col. 6.30.4. Caput (- d) can mean 'head’ in the sense 'end’ or
'opening’ (note ps.-Theod. Prise. Addit. p. 340.16 'suppones in
capite matricis’), but in the absence of a specifying genitive or
phrase it is unlikely to be the correct reading here. I conclude
that scapum (acc.) = 'urethra’ should be printed. The passage
has been so tampered with that one would be unjustified in
bringing the form capus into existence on this evidence alone.
The metaphor is obviously different from that in Augustine’s
scapus; the two usages are independent of each other.

In the above discussion I have largely restricted myself to
the terms 'sharp’ or 'pointed object’ as a general designation
for an important class of metaphors. Within this general class
it is of course possible to make further subdivisions (see, for
example, above, p. 17 n. 1 on architectural metaphors). Some
of these subdivisions are singled out below.

(a) Weapons

This is the largest category of metaphors of our general type.
No single word for a weapon seems to have become a banal
term for the penis in Latin, but the frequency of ad hoc meta¬
phors both in Greek and Latin shows that the sexual symbol¬
ism of weapons was instantly recognisable in ancient society.
Words for weapons lent themselves readily to risque jokes. I
begin with a few examples of such jokes.

Suetonius records a joke of Vespasian ( Vesp. 23.1), who on
seeing a well-endowed man, quoted the Homeric verse poiKpa
PifJds, KpaSawv SoAixoaxinv (II. 7.213). eyx o< ? of course
suggests the penis. It was not unusual in ancient humour for
epic verses and situations to be deliberately misinterpreted in
a sexual sense. 1 In the most protracted misinterpretation ex¬
tant of epic lines, the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius, various
words indicating weapons in Virgil are made to suggest the
mentula\ see 92, p. 215 P., 120, p. 217 telum (for this word
with an anatomical meaning, see Justin 38.1.9, discussed be¬
low, and Mart. 11.78.6, Priap. 9.14, 55.4), 117, p. 217 hasta (cf.

1 See Nicarchus, AP. 11.328, Petron. 132.11, Priap. 68. See my article 'Au¬
sonius Cento Nuptialis 101-131’ forthcoming in SIFC.

20 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Priap. 43.1, 4, in a similar context to that in Ausonius), 1 121,
p. 217 mucro (not found elsewhere with this meaning).

According to Justin (38.1.9), Mithridates, on being frisked
by a representative of the younger Ariarathes, gave the warn¬
ing 'caueret ne aliud telum inueniret quam quaereret’ ('he
should be careful lest he find a weapon other than the one he
was looking for’). The remark provoked mirth (§ 10 'atque ita
risu protectis insidiis ...’). This joke is very similar to that at
Plaut. Cas. 909 'dum gladium quaero ne habeat, arripio ca-
pulum. / sed quom cogito, non habuit gladium, nam esset
frigidus’. The slave Olympio, while searching Chalinus in the
dark for weapons, unknowingly handles his penis. The terms
gladius and capulus, though innocent in his own eyes, could
only be taken in a sexual sense by the audience.

Pomponius’ expression coleatam cuspidem (69) (= 'the be-
testicled lance’) would have been intended to sound comical.
Coleatus is a Pomponian neologism based on the obscenity
coleus = 'testicle’ (cf. 40 'et ubi insilui in coleatum eculeum,
ibi tolutim tortor’), and cuspis is nowhere else used in this
sense. Sexual double entendre and metaphors must have been
a prominent feature of Atellana.

Plautus shared such double entendre with farce. From the
semantic field under discussion here note (in addition to Cos.
909 above) Pseud. 1181 'conueniebatne in uaginam tuam ma-
chaera militis’. Machaera implies the penis, uagina (another
ad hoc metaphor) the anus. It is not surprising that machaera
nowhere else has an obscene meaning, because the word was
not in general use later. But in Greek one should compare the
symbolism of the dream recounted at Ach. Tat. 2.23. As Cli-
tophon enters the bedroom of Leucippe, Leucippe’s mother
dreams (2.23.5) that Vgorriv p,dxoupav ex oVTOt yup.vr|v ayeiv
dpiraCTdixevov avrrjs Tqv fivyaTepa, where p.dxoapa is obviously
meant to suggest the penis. The symbolism becomes more

1 Note too the expression hastam mei inguinis in the medieval spurcum
additamentum found in a manuscript of Apul. Met. 10.21. On the spurious
nature of the additamentum, see E. Fraenkel, Eranos 51 (1953), pp. 151ff.
(= id., Kleine Beitrdge zur klassischen Philologie (Rome, 1964), II, pp. 391ff.),
and Mariotti. For the genitive inguinis, cf. Mart. 6.73.6 inguinis arma (cf.
Priap. 46.9 fossas inguinis), and, in Medieval Latin, William of Blois, Alda
485 tumor inguinis ille rigentis, 490 tumor inguinis iste mei. In the spurcum
additamentum inguinis is conceivably (but not necessarily) a genetiuus in-
haerentiae (and hence synonymous with hasta, = mentula), as Mariotti argues
(p. 237 = p. 55). Hasta = 'penis’ is found elsewhere in Medieval Latin: see
Michael Scotus, De Physiognomia 22, 100.

Mentula and its Synonyms 21

explicit later in the sentence: p.ecrnv dvotTep,eiv rg p.axottpqt
tt)v "yacjTepa, KctTwhev dp|ap.evov diro tt|<; a£8aus.

Other examples of metaphors from weaponry in Latin are
sicula at Catull. 67.21, gladius at Petron. 9.5 in a possible
double entendre ('gladium strinxit et "si Lucretia es” inquit
"Tarquinium inuenisti” ’), arma at Ovid Am. 1.9.26, Petron.
130.4, Maxim. Eleg. 5.77f., as well as at Mart. 6.73.6 and
Priap. 31.3 above (cf. inermis at Ovid Am. 3.7.71), and capulus
('sword hilt’) at Priap. 25.7 (see above on Plaut. Cas. 909).
Gesatus (< gaesum) at CIL XII.5695.3, = CE 358 is possibly
a humorous equivalent of mentulatus (so Buecheler ad loc .):
'Victoria: Balbus pedico uicit et gesatus / Actius emiacas qui
ducet sa(e)pe choreas’. And the emperor Heliogabalus may
have called men who were particularly virile monobelis or
onobeli: HA., Hel. 8.7 ' . .. ut ex tota penitus urbe atque ex
nauticis onobeli quaererentur; sic eos appellabant, qui uiril-
iores uidebantur’ ( monobiles P, monoboles 2, monobelis Sal-
masius, onobeli Lipsius). Monobelis would derive from
|xovo0e\e(s, 'with single weapon’. Lipsius’ onobeli ('quasi asi-
nino telo insignes’) is very plausible (cf. onon at Comm. 10.9,
of a well-endowed man).

Further examples in Greek are fjupos at Aristoph. Lys. 632
(cf. Hesych. s.v. (TKupos), 8opu at Lys. 985, and o£eux (sc.
XoyxTl) at ps.-Luc. Asinus 10 wore Tivaijas dijeiav emirpwo-ov
Kal pdOuvov: note Sud. o£eia rj Xoyx^- Kal -irapoip,Ca '8i’ d£ela<;
8pap.eiv’, cm tu>v SiaKLvSweoovTwv.

The metaphor of the bow can be classified as a metaphor
from weaponry, but it is not exclusively of the same type as
the above metaphors. At Priap. 68.33 Penelope speaks of
Ulysses 'stretching his bow string’ ('nemo meo melius neruum
tendebat Ulixe’), and there is a similar metaphor at Apul. Met.
2.16 ('arcum meum et ipse uigorate tetendi’ (uigor attetendit
ip)). It was the capacity of the strings to tauten and relax which
lay behind these double entendres (as behind the metaphor
from lyre-playing at Varro Men. 368; cf. Priap. 68.16): for
tendo and its derivatives applied to the state of erection, see,
e.g. Catull. 80.6, Hor. Serm. 1.2.118, 1.5.84, 2.7.48, Mart.
6.71.3, 7.67.2, 11.58.1, 11.73.3, Juv. 11.169, Priap. 23.4, 33.5,
Diomedes, GL 1.376.10f., Eugraph. on Ter. Eun. 598. But in
the double entendre at Ovid Am. 1.8.47f. ('Penelope iuuenum
uires temptabat in arcu; / qui latus argueret comeus arcus
erat’) it is the 'homy’ frame of the bow which suggests the
male organ. Hence the one object provides two different types

22 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

of metaphors, the second of which belongs among metaphors
based on pointed objects. For the sexual significance of horn,
see Kepas = 'penis’ at Archil. 247 West and Meleager, AJP.
12.95.6; cf. Petron. 134.11 'nisi illud tam rigidum reddidero
quam cornu’, Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.179 'tensionem autem fuisse
ueretri nimiam ... ut cornu putaretur*. Note too the popular
belief mentioned by Pliny, Nat. 11.261 '(genitalia) urso quo-
que, simul atque expirauerit, comescere aiunt’.

Ad hoc metaphors from weaponry continued to be coined in
the Middle Ages. Note Babio 338 'captus non totus abibit./
mecum deuenient funda petraeque simul’, where the sling,
funda represents the mentula, and the petrae the testicles.

It is difficult to make generalisations about the tone of
classes of sexual metaphors in Greek and Latin. But meta¬
phors for the male organ derived from weaponry seem to have
been risqu6, and as such they were common in jokes and
forms of comedy.

(6) Household objects

The house and its contents were a source of metaphors for the
genitalia of both sexes. An early metaphor of this type for the
penis is in a comic fragment of Naevius: 126 'uel quae sperat
se nupturam uiridulo adulescentulo, / ea licet senile tractet
detritum rutabulum’. Rutabulum literally means 'rake, poker*
(see Fest. p. 318 'rutabulum est, quo rustici in proruendo igne,
panis coquendi gratia’; note that the word had a rustic flavour).
The presence of the metaphor in Naevius is of significance for
the history of comedy in Latin. The manuscript of Festus, who
quotes the fragment ( loc. cit.), reads Nauius (F). Since the
other example of the word quoted by Festus is from Novius (80
'quid ego facerem? otiosi [otiosel] rodebam rutabulum’), it is
just possible that the couplet should be assigned to Novius.
But the metaphor would not be out of character in palliata.
Plautus, as we have seen, admitted anatomical double en¬
tendres of a sexual kind, and he may well have been antici¬
pated by Naevius. There are other 'Roman’ elements in the
comic fragments of Naevius. 1

1 See Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini, pp. 20, 44 on frg. 129. On the numerous
verbal similarities between Naevius and Plautus, see Fraenkel, RE, Suppl.
VI, 628ff. See also J. Wright, Dancing in Chains: the Stylistic Unity of the
Comoedia Palliata (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in
Rome, vol. xxv, Rome, 1974).

23

Mentula and its Synonyms

There may be a household term used metaphorically at Pom¬
pon. 96 'mulier ubi conspexit tarn mirifice tutulatam truam’
(for conspicio in such a context, see 69). 1 The literal sense of
trua is 'ladle’ (see Titin. 128). With trua Frassinetti compares
TopuvTi in a joke of Cleopatra’s quoted by Plut. Anton. 62.6 Vj
p,ev KXeo-jnxTpoi oxuirrauCTa 'tC 8eivov’ eXeyev 'ei Koacrap em
TopuinQ Ka^T|Tai;’ (Caesar had been delayed at a place called
Topw-ri). If tutulatam truam is obscene, it is similar in type to
Pomponius’ coleatam cuspidem (above, p. 20): a metaphorical
noun is accompanied by a bizarre adjective. Tutulatam ('hav¬
ing a head-dress, tutulus’) would refer to the pubic hair.

Kitchen terminology is chiefly used suggestively of the fe¬
male pudenda (p. 86).

(c) Poles, stakes and the like

A number of the metaphors which have already been men¬
tioned fall into this category ( *caraculum , uectis, uirga, radius,
palus, contus, scapus, rutabulum). To these can be added Ca¬
tullus’ trabs at 28.10 'bene me ac diu supinum / tota ista trabe
lentus irrumasti’. Trabs is confined to Catullus with this
meaning. Catullus is employing irrumo, in a grotesque meta¬
phor, in reference to a non-sexual insult. Trabs was presum¬
ably adopted ad hoc as suitably drastic in the context.

Pomponius’ terminus (126 'nisi nunc aliquis subito obuiam
occurrit mihi, / qui oquiniscat, quo compingam terminum in
tutum locum’) is a more specialised image. The metaphor is
from the rural activity of boundary marking (and as such it
might also have been classified as 'rustic’ or 'agricultural’).
Terminus indicated a boundary marker, whether made of
stone or wood (see Grom. pp. 89.18-90.4 Thulin). A wooden
terminus could be described as a palus: see Grom. p. 102.18f.
Thulin 'in quibusdam uero regionibus palos pro terminis ob-
seruant’. Compingam in its literal sense would refer to the
insertion of the sharp object into the ground (with in tutum
locum by implication indicating the cuius). Terminus in a
sexual sense is unique to Pomponius, and it was no doubt his
own coinage. For another type of boundary marking as a sex¬
ual symbol, see p. 85.

The use of temo ('pole’) at Priap. 54.1 should also be men-

1 For the sexual interpretation of the fragment, see V. Buchheit, Hermes 90
(1962), p. 262, Frassinetti, p. 106.

24 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

tioned here, though the symbolism there is of a special kind
(see p. 39).

(d) Agricultural implements

The Latin sexual language is full of images which may be
called 'agricultural’ or 'rustic’ (e.g. the similes at Lucil. 278,
330, irrumo, glubo, molo, aro = futuo, and in particular various
words for the cunnus and cuius : ager, agellus, saltus, aruum,
sulcus and aratiuncula ), which reflect the rural conditions of
the Latin community over a long period. Various metaphors
for the penis which have been seen above, and others which
will be discussed in later sections, have a distinctly rustic
flavour (e.g. terminus, caulis in Lucilius, cucumis, radix, ra¬
mus, palus, rutabulum). To these can be added certain words
strictly denoting agricultural implements.

Vomer ('ploughshare’) is used of the mentula at Lucr. 4.1273
'eicit enim sulcum recta regione uiaque / uomeris’. For the
symbolism of the ploughshare, see also Artem. 2.24, p. 142.19f.
Pack i5ui)s 8e Vj uvis, ws 'iroXA.dKK, errjpria'ot, Koti to ch’8olov too
£8ovto<; (rrip.a£vci. Falcula, diminutive of falx, 'sickle’, must be
an equivalent of mentula at CE 1900 'li[nge] Le[li, ljinge L[eli],
linge Leli fa[lc]ula[m]’. The curved shape of the sickle might
seem to undermine a metaphorical application of the word,
but it was no doubt the pointed nature of the object which was
in the writer’s mind (cf. falx below). Similarly, as we have
seen, in a suggestive context the frame of a bow might imply
the mentula.

The above use of uomer was taken up much later by Mat¬
thew of Venddme, Milo 184 'cultoris uacat egra manu qui
uimina nulla / falce metit, nullo uomere tangit humum’ (Milo
is accused of not consummating his marriage; humum suggests
the cunnus). Agricultural metaphors enjoyed a vogue in Me¬
dieval Latin. For falx, which also must be a double entendre
here, see the satire De Monacho Quodam 1 'misisti falcem in
messem alienam’ (the monk has committed adultery; messem
is an agricultural metaphor for the cunnus). In this passage a
Biblical phrase has been given an unintended sexual twist
(see Deut. 23.25 'si intraueris in segetem amici tui, franges
spicas et manu conteres; falce autem non metes’). The obscene

1 The text can be found in the Appendix of Faral’s edition of the Babio (see
above, p. 15 n. 3), and in Lehmann, text no. 14, pp. 224£f.

25

Mentula and its Synonyms

misuse of Biblical phraseology is analogous to the misuse of
epic phrases and of proverbs. For another example, see De
Monacho Quodam 'ubinam est inimicus homo qui uenit, et
superseminauit zizania, et cubile meum multa maculauit per-
fidia?’ (cf. Matth. 13.25 'uenit inimicus eius et superseminauit
zizania in medio tritici’).

( e ) Musical terminology

At Cent. Nupt. 127, p. 217 P. ('pectine pulsat ebumo’) Ausonius
makes pecten ('plectrum’ for playing the lyre at Virg. Aen.
6.647) indicate the penis. This metaphor has a parallel in a
gloss ( CGL V.252.28 'ueretrum percussorium’). Percussorium
was a late word for 'plectrum’ (CGL IV.145.14, 268.31). Cf.
pertunsorium = 'penis’ at CGL IV.295.34, V.488.58. There is
perhaps a comparable metaphor in the obscure graffito CIL
IV.4862 'Berutius felator it [= etl] mames [< VL mammaes,
= mammae ?] et prethri’. The last word is uncertain (for the
possible reading plethri see the editor ad loc.), but it may
represent plectrum. If so it would be a musical metaphor which
had found its way into slang. Pecten = 'pubic hair’ (see p. 76)
is irrelevant here.

Lyre playing also provided a sexual metaphor of another
type: see Varro Men. 368 'et id dicunt suam Briseidem pro-
ducere, quae eius neruia tractare solebat’. This metaphor is
parallel to that of the bow string seen above, p. 21. 1

(/) Nautical metaphors

Another innocent Virgilian word which is rendered obscene in
the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius is clauus, lit. 'tiller’: 124,
p. 217 P. 'clauumque adfixus et haerens / nusquam amittebat’
(Virg. Aen. 5.852f.). The ship and seafaring served as the
vehicle for various other types of sexual metaphors in Greek
and Latin (p. 167). For a probable Medieval double entendre
of a nautical kind, see Pamphilus 458 'nec sentire potest an-
chora nostra solum’ (Pamphilus complains that he cannot
achieve the object of his desires).

1 For musical terminology used with an underlying sexual meaning in Greek,
see Pherecr. 145.16ff. Kock (Cheiron), and E. K. Borthwick, Hermes 96 (1968),
pp. 60ff., especially 67ff.

26 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(ii) Botanical metaphors

Certain plants or vegetables, because of their shape or some
other characteristic, may resemble the penis or one of its parts, 1
and hence they sometimes provide metaphors for the organ
(for examples in Greek, note Archil. 252 West m-vktis, Aristoph.
Ach. 801 epepivOos, Pax 965 Kpi-&f|). But it should be stressed
that some objects which are apprehended by some, if not all,
speakers as sexual symbols do not give rise to a metaphorical
usage. In the appropriate context the object may be interpreted
as sexually significant, without the word for the object being
formally equated with the word for 'penis’. Augustus’ coinage
betizo = langueo (Suet. Aug. 87.2) suggests that the plant beta
was felt to resemble a mentula languida, and indeed the com¬
parison is explicitly made by Catullus 67.21 ('languidior te-
nera cui pendens sicula beta’), but there is no evidence that
beta was ever in use in an anatomical sense. For botanical
similes signifying impotence, see Petron. 132.8 'ter languidior
coliculi repente thyrso / ferrum timui’, 132.11 'ilia solo fixos
oculos auersa tenebat, / nec magis incepto uultum sermone
mouetur / quam lentae salices lassoue papauera collo’ (= Virg.
Aen. 6.469f. + Eel. 5.16 and Aen. 9.436), and in Greek, Auto-
medon, AT. 11.29.3f. aurt] yap tXaxdvav <ricrapa>TepTi,t ^ irpiv
dKap/TTTi*; / £ (Iktoi, vex pa p/qpd>v Tra aa ScSokcv ecrio.

Plant metaphors are not common in recorded Latin, and
some of those which do occur are special cases. Caulis (lit.
'stalk, cabbage stalk’) deserves special comment. It is found
first at Lucil. 281 'praecidit caulem testisque una amputat
ambo’ (cf. Petronius’ use of coliculus in a simile at 132.8,
quoted above). Later it is the standard word for 'penis’ in
Celsus (19 times), who adopted it as a caique on kocuXos (also
a botanical metaphor, 'stem of a plant’), a medical term. 2 xav-
Xos is quoted once from the Hippocratic corpus (Int. 14), but it
is more common later (e.g. in Galen: note, e.g. VP 14.12, II,
p. 324.19f. Helmreich tctu kovXoO - KaXeixai 8’ ovtoo to dv8peiov
aiSoiov: cf. Rufus Onom. 101, Pollux 2.171, Diod. Sic. 32.11.2).

1 The potential sexual symbolism of plants is reflected in the naming of
various plants with a suggestive appearance after the sexual organs. See, for
example, J. Andr6, Lexique des termes de botanique en latin (Paris, 1956),
s.w. orchis (note Isid. Etym. 17.9.43), orchites (-a), satyrion, testiculata , testi-
cuius. Cf. CGL m.593.48 'Priapisce herba testiculis similis est’.

2 Medical writers, as we have seen, were not averse from the use of sexual
metaphors (see p. 15).

Mentula and its Synonyms 27

The relationship between the example of caulis in Lucilius
and those in Celsus is open to question. It seems likely enough
that Lucilius employed the metaphor as an ad hoc coinage,
and that Celsus later introduced the caique in ignorance of
the Lucilian passage. One might alternatively argue that Cel¬
sus made the caique with an existing Latin slang term in mind
(in the manuscripts it is always the dialectal and no doubt
vulgar form colis which occurs), given that, though at 6.18.1
he comments on the coarseness of the current Latin sexual
terminology and the greater acceptability of the Greek, he also
shows an awareness there of the need to be comprehensible.
But his sexual language in general is recherche rather than
slangy. It would be rash to conclude that caulis ever had any
popular currency. Nor did it become established in the later
medical vocabulary. 1 It occurs later only in Theodoras Prisci-
anus {Eup. 1.78, p. 82.13), the Mulomedicina Chironis (474)
and Vindic. Epit. Alt. 28 p. 479.17. The author of the Mulo¬
medicina was influenced by his Greek source ('ad extremum
cole iaculum interpunge’, = Hipp. Berol. 48.1, CHG I, p. 223.16
KevroOvTes to Trapa tov kocvXov 84pp. a). At 385, however, it is
ueretrum which corresponds to KotvXos ('ueretrum procadet et
subinde arriget’, = Hipp. Berol. 54.1, CHG I, p. 239.17f. kou 6
KotvXos Trpo'JH'irrei Kal eiratpeToa).

The sort of popular pun which may have been often heard
in Latin, but seldom written, is illustrated at Plaut. Cas. 911
'num radix fuit? . . . num cucumis?’. Pardalisca leads Olympio
on by suggesting that the object which he has touched in the
dark (a mentula) may have been either a root or cucumber.
The sexual symbolism of the cucumber is widely recognised,
but there is no evidence for an established metaphorical use
of cucumis = 'penis’ in Latin.

1 kooiXos itself was obviously a rather recherche term. There is a misunder¬
standing of its sense at Cael. Aurel. Gyn. p. 4.91f. ’habet (matrix) os, collum,
ceruicem, quorum congestio siue unitas ueretrum dicitur’. The Greek (Soran.
p. 177.16f. Rose) has r\ awSpoix-i) 6* tovtwv kocuXos, where koojXos is used in
another sense, 'neck of the womb’ (cf. Aristot. HA. 510 b). Soranus Lat.
(Mustio) in the corresponding passage uses caula (lit. caulae = 'opening’) as
a caique on kocuXos in this sense (p. 8.8 'ubi ergo est A posita, orificium dicitur.
ubi uero est B, collum dicitur. ubi est C, ceruix dicitur. omnis autem horum
concursus caula dicitur’), but Caelius took xauXos not in its technical gynae¬
cological meaning but as equivalent to aiBotov (for ueretrum — aiBoiov, see
below, p. 52), as if xauXos = 'penis’ had been generalised to include the female
pudenda.

28 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Cicer = 'penis’ in the Oxford fragment of Juvenal (6.373 B
'mangonum pueros uera ac miserabilis urit / debilitas, foll-
isque pudet cicerisque relicti’; on follis = 'scrotum’, see below,
p. 75) is a manifest caique on epe(3iv0os. This and the loan¬
word chelidon (xeXiSotv) (p. 82) in the passage are out of keep¬
ing with the normal sexual vocabulary of Juvenal (see p. 221).
They raise doubts about its authenticity.

The alleged translation by Apuleius of a passage from an
’Avexop-^vos ascribed to Menander found at Anth. Lat. 712
contains a botanical metaphor at 18: 'thyrsumque pangant
hortulo Cupidinis’ ( horto S). Here thyrsus suggests the men-
tula ; it was the literal meaning 'stem of a plant’ which served
as the vehicle of the metaphor, as is clear from the phraseology
in the rest of the line. For the thyrsus of a plant mentioned in
a simile describing impotence, see Petron. 132.8 above. The
sexual vocabulary of Anth. Lat. 712 is extremely artificial, and
not that of current slang. Hortulo is a caique on kt|tto<;, and
sulcus and aruum (of the female external genitalia) in 17
('arentque sulcos molles aruo Venerio’) were taken from Virg.
Georg. 3.136. But thyrsus (in its Vulgar Latin form tursus )
must have been in use in its literal sense (> It. torso, etc.).

Ramus = 'penis’ can be classified as a botanical metaphor.
The sexual symbolism seen in the ramus is implicit in the fact
that the grammarian Diomedes (GL 1.451.7) found a cacem-
phaton in the Virgilian expression 'ramum qui ueste latebat’
(Aen. 6.406). Ausonius, no doubt with the school interpretation
of the line in mind, imposed a sexual sense on it at Cent. Nupt.
105, p. 216 P. The way in which the word is used at Novius
21 ('puerum mulieri praestare noenu scis, quanto siet / melior,
cuius uox gallulascit, cuius iam ramus roborascit?’) suggests
that for the writer the metaphor was showing no tendency to
fade. An example at Prud. adu. Symm. 1.115 ('turpiter adfixo
pudeat quem uisere ramo’) applied to the phallus of Priapus
belongs with the other metaphorical designations of the god’s
mentula seen earlier. Nothing in the use of ramus indicates
that the metaphor had been banalised. The word (in this sense)
does not survive in Romance. 1

1 Goldberger (1930), p. 62 makes the claim that Sp. ramera and Pg. rameira
= 'prostitute’ are derivatives of ramus = 'penis’. The explanation of these two
words can be found in J. Corominas, Diccionario crttico etimoldgico de la
lengua castellana (Madrid, 1954), HI, p. 987. They reflect a whores’ custom of
advertising their trade by placing a branch on their doors.

29

Mentula and its Synonyms

It has been suggested that a proverb at Catull. 94.2 ('Men¬
tula moechatur. moechatur mentula: certe / hoc est, quod di-
cunt, ipsa olera olla legit’) contains a double entendre. 1 The
proverb must mean 'like finds like’, 'those who are suited come
together*. Olla may imply the cunnus, as at Apul. Met. 2.7 (cf.
ollula, ibid.), and olera the mentula. This interpretation is by
no means certain, given that olera is a generic term which
does not suggest an object of any particular shape, and is
plural. 2

The only other botanical metaphor from this semantic field
in Classical Latin is a caique (glans : see below, p. 72).

A remarkable example of protracted botanical symbolism in
Medieval Latin is found in the comedy Lidia 510ff., the tale of
the Enchanted Pear Tree, imitated by Boccaccio, Dec. 7.9.
There the pear tree (pirus) symbolises the penis. Note 548 'nec
Pirrus me mouet, immo pirus’ (a double entendre, in reference
to copulation’), 551 'ut dixi tibi, dux, uitium fuit arboris ; ilia,
/ esse potest, alios ludificabit adhuc’, 554 'sit pirus excisa’. The
pears from the tree seem to represent semen: note 544 'sepe
quidem Pirro sunt pira missa piro’ (certainly a double en¬
tendre; given that piro is the penis, the pears sent from it must
be semen), 510 'iam meliore piro succute, Pirre, pira’.

(iii) Personification and animal metaphors

The penis is often treated as having a personality and life of
its own, and partly for this reason it tends to be identified with
various animals or birds. Visual symbolism may also lie be¬
hind such metaphors. Certain animals (e.g. the snake) have
an obvious similarity to the organ.

Personification of the penis is widespread in Latin (for Greek
see, e.g. Aristoph. Thesm. 1187 and below). The graffito CIL
IV.1938 'metula tua iubet’ shows the popular character of such
personifications. Similar personification to this is found in
Martial (e.g. 9.2.2 'queritur de te mentula sola nihil’, 11.58.11f.
'lota mentula lana / \au<d£eiv cupidae dicet auaritiae’; cf.
1.58.3), 3 and in various other writers (e.g. Hor. Serm. 1.2.68

1 So Buchheit, Hermes 90 (1962), pp. 254f.

2 Buchheit’s view (.loc. cit.) that holus is obscene at Petron 6.4 and Priap.
24.4 is totally implausible.

3 For further personifications in Martial, see 9.37.9f., 11.78.2.

30 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

'huic si muttonis uerbis mala tanta uidenti / diceret haec ani¬
mus . . Priap. 83.21 'o sceleste penis . . . licet querare’). The
phraseology at Petron. 132.8 ('(mentula) confugerat in uis-
cera’) is comparable with that at Mul. Chir. 681 ('ne refugiat
(ueretrum)’), ibid, ('statim fugiet sibi’) and 731 ('ne praecisus
intus refugiat’). Both writers no doubt used popular language
with an implicit personification. At Ovid Am. 3.7.69, Petron.
132.9f., Priap. 83.19, 38 and Maxim. Eleg. 5.87ff. a mentula is
rebuked; 1 one might compare the address of the penis at Strato,
AT. 12.216 and Scythinus, AT. 12.232. The organ can be said
to have a head (e.g. Petron. 132.8, Mart. 11.46.4, Priap. 83.5)
or an eye (Mart. 9.37.10, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 108, p. 216 P.); 2 it
can drink (Auson. Cent. Nupt. 118, p. 217 P.; for the ttcos
eating in Greek, see Artem. 5.62, where a dream is reported
in which a man fed his penis with bread and cheese as if it
were an animal), weep (= 'ejaculate’, Lucil. 307 'at laeua lac-
rimas muttoni absterget arnica’, Hist. Apoll. Tyr. 34 'non potest
melius: usque ad lacrimas . . .’, Scythinus, AT. 12.232.5), 3
stand or sit (Mart. 3.73.2, Maxim. Eleg. 5.96, Apul. Met. 9.16
desidia ), 4 and die (of impotence: Ovid Am. 3.7.65, Petron. 20.2,
129.1, Mart. 3.75.6, Maxim. Eleg. 5.83).

In Greek various animal metaphors are attested. In Strato
the penis is a snake (o<H<;) at AT. 11.22.2, and a number of
times a lizard (cravpa: 11.21.1,12.3.5,12.207.1; cf. CGL II.185.9
'sira o-orupa to ai’8oiov’, and Isid. Etym. 12.4.34, 37 for saura in
Latin). For tcvwv = ttcos, see, e.g. Aristoph. Lys. 158, Argen-
tarius, AT. 5.105.4, Strato, 12.225.2, for Tempos in the same
sense, see Suda, s.v. Tempos- to a (Soto v too avSpos, and for
ittttos, see Hesych. s.v. irrirov- to p.optov teat to rrjs yvvaiKos Kai
too av&pos.

The snake was felt to have phallic significance by Latin
speakers (see Suet. Aug. 94.4, Firm. Mat. De Errore 10), but

1 The personification in Priap. 83 is remarkably protracted (19ff.). For a
similarly extended personification at a much later period, see William of Blois,
Alda 499ff.

2 For the 'one-eyed’ penis in Greek art, see Dover, p. 132.

3 For possible 'sobbing’ of the mentula in Medieval Latin, see Vitalis of Blois,
Geta 347 'sed sic dum crebro singultu colligit iram / ad curtum muto tenditur
usque genu’, William of Blois, Alda 468 'crebros in fine salientis senserat Alda
/ uirge singultus’. Probably, however, singultus has here been used in the
transferred sense 'throbbing’: cf. Pers. 6.72 'cum morosa uago singultiet in-
guine uena’, which may be the source of the medieval usage.

4 For 'sitting’, see also William of Blois, Alda 509 'tunc sedet ille tumor’.

Mentula and its Synonyms 31

there is no certain example of the metaphor in Latin. At Priap.
83.33 a mentula languida is compared to an anguis: 'licebit
aeger angue lentior cubes’. Natrix (lit. 'water snake’) is taken
in the sense 'penis’ by Marx at Lucil. 72 ('si natibus natricem
inpressit crassam et capitatam’), and this interpretation is
certainly possible; 1 note in particular capitatam, and cf. p. 72
on caput. But it is at least as likely that the word indicated a
type of whip. For whips of this sort, see Isid. Etym. 5.27.15
'anguilla est qua coercentur in scolis pueri, quae uolgo scotica
dicitur’ (cf. Plin. Nat. 9.77). A snake-name used metaphorically
of the penis might be expected to refer to a mentula languida
(see Priap. 83.33). If natrix does have a sexual sense in our
passage, it would have to indicate a mentula rigida, to judge
by the limited context. And it is slightly more plausible to see
in natibus a reference to the site of a beating than of a sexual
assault (though nates occasionally comes close to the sense
'cuius': Mart. 12.75.3, CIL X.4483). Frassinetti (p. 106) inter¬
prets Pompon. 113 (118 Ribbeck) ('mirum ni haec Marsa est:
in colubras callet cantiunculam’) as a description of an erectio
penis ('she knows a charm for the snakes’), on the grounds that
snakes are a common phallic symbol. There is nothing in the
context, or in the use of snake terminology in Latin, to make
this view certain. The gloss CGL II.185.9 quoted above, in
which sira is equated with cravpa = aiSoiov, is poor evidence
for the currency of saura (sira) in a sexual sense in Latin,
although it is taken as such by Heraeus (loc. cit.). One can
only deduce that sira had entered Latin (= 'lizard’), and that
the glossator was familiar with the use of cravpa = aiSoiov in
Greek.

Various bird-names are recorded with the metaphorical
sense 'penis’ in Latin. According to Festus (p. 410) strutheum
(neuter not masculine: see below) was in use in mime with
this meaning: 'strutheum in mimis praecipue uocant obscenam
partem uirilem, <a> salacitate uidelicet passeris, qui Graece
orpovdos dicitur’. This form must represent the diminutive of
orpovdos, orpovfliov, with the typical vulgar uncertainty con¬
cerning the aperture of the vowel in hiatus. Strutheum is one
of the few loan-words for a sexual organ in Latin. But in
lower-class speech the influence of Greek, imposed by slaves

1 For the same interpretation, see W. Heraeus, ALL 12 (1902), pp. 265f.,
note.

32 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

and freedmen, was strong (witness the Cena Trimalchionis of
Petronius), and Greek would no doubt have left its mark on
the language of popular mime. Even in the fragments of La-
berius there are a few words of Greek origin which are scarcely
found in Latin but were presumably current in the low social
circles to which numerous Greeks belonged. Eugium = cunnus
(p. 83) is especially worthy of mention alongside strutheum.
Both words look like lower-class slang terms of the type which
rarely found their way into the literary remains of the
language. They may have been introduced by Greek prosti¬
tutes (cf. calo, p. 173).

It is implied by Schol. Pers. 1.20 that titus ('dove’) could be
used of the penis ('ingentes . . . Titos dicit aut generaliter
Romanos senatores a Tito Tatio Sabinorum rege, aut certe a
membri uirilis magnitudine dicti titi’), and the word has re¬
flexes with this meaning in the Romance languages. 1 The evi¬
dence of Romance is important in this case as corroborating
inadequate Latin evidence.

Turtur is also quoted with this meaning by a gloss (corf.
Vatic. 1469): 'turturilla loci in quibus corruptelae fiebant, dicti
quod ibi turturi opera daretur, id est peni’ (see CGL, Index,
s.v. for this gloss and its variants). Turturilla may have been
soldiers’ slang for a brothel: see CGL V.524.30 'purpurilla [sic]
dicitur locus in castris extra uallum in quo scorta prostant’. 2 A
pun has sometimes been found in turturem at Plaut. Bacch.
68 ('ubi ego capiam pro machaera turturem’), 3 but this in¬
terpretation is not compelling. For turtures at symposia, see
Most. 46.

I am also unconvinced by the view 4 that passer in Catull. cc.
2-3 and passerem Catulli at Mart. 11.6.16 were intended in a
double meaning. Lines 6f. in Catull. 3 Csuamque norat / ipsam
tam bene quam puella matrem’) tell strongly against the pres¬
ence of a double entendre in the poem. Verbs of knowing in
Latin could be used of carnal knowledge (see p. 190). If the
rest of the poem is covertly sexual, norat too would have to be

1 FEW xm, p. 362.

* See Heraeus, loc. cit.

’ See F. Buecheler, ALL 11 (1886), p. 117, = O. Hense and E. Lommatzsch
Kleine Schrifien von Franz Buecheler (Leipzig and Berlin, 1915-1930), III,
pp. 76f.

4 See most recently E. N. Genovese, Maia 26 (1974), pp. 121ff., G. Gian-
grande, Mus. Phil. Lond. 1 (1975), pp. 137ff.

33

Mentula and its Synonyms

given an obscene sense. But if it were, the comparison quam
puella matrem would become grotesquely inappropriate. That
passero and passera in modem Italian are said to be capable
of an obscene meaning is irrelevant to Catullus, unless it could
be shown by late or Vulgar Latin evidence that there was
continuity in this respect between Republican Latin and mod¬
em Romance. The slang of the modem languages is full of
innovations. Mart. 11.6.16 is too obscure to assist in the in¬
terpretation of passer in Catullus. 1

Gurgulio = 'penis’ at Pers. 4.38 ('inguinibus quare detonsus
gurgulio extat?’) is probably an animal metaphor. At TLL
VI.2.2365.31ff. the word is interpreted as the anatomical term
gurgulio, which normally is used of the upper digestive tract,
= 'throat, oesophagus’ (so the Schol. ad loc.: 'gurgulionem
autem nunc penem dicit, cum proprie in gutture sit gurgulio’).
How the semantic change might have occurred is not ex¬
plained. It is true that the penis and other sexual parts are
sometimes likened to non-sexual parts of the anatomy (see
below, p. 35), and indeed that a mentula is compared by Mar¬
tial to the neck of a vulture (9.27.2 'uulturino mentulam parem
collo’), but the gurgulio was an internal organ to which the
male external genitalia could not be readily compared; such a
word would be more appropriately applied to the vagina or
rectum, like guttur at Plaut. Aul. 304 and Mart. 11.21.10.
Gurgulio must be equivalent to curculio (a type of worm), as
it is usually taken. The Romance reflexes of curculio / gurgulio
derive from the form gurgulio (e.g. Olt. gorgoglio, Fr. gour-
guillon, Sp. gorgojo), and gurgulio is well attested (e.g. Schol.
Juv. 6.276, Isid. Etym. 12.8.17, CGL III.431.59). The form may
have been due to a popular etymology ( curculio may have been
associated with gurges, guttur, gula, or even the anatomical
term gurgulio itself; note Isidore’s statement that the gurgulio
was composed of almost nothing but guttur. 12.8.17 'gurgulio
dicitur, quia pene nihil est aliud nisi guttur’). It is impossible
to tell whether this figurative use had a basis in popular
speech. Gurgulio has a parallel in a use of uermiculus reported

1 See further Jocelyn, AJP 101 (1980), pp. 421ff. I record here without com¬
ment the notion of Giangrande, reported (with apparent approval) by P. How¬
ell, A Commentary on Book One of the Epigrams of Martial (London, 1980),
p. 122, that 'Stella used columba as the equivalent... of Catullus’ passer, i.e.
mentula’ (see Mart. 1.7).

34 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

in a gloss: CGL 11.552.13 'uermiculus . . (JctAotvos . . . dvSpetas
4ri3creu)<;’.

There is no evidence that equus was used of the penis, de¬
spite ps.-Acron’s comment on Hor. Serm. 2.7.50 'equum appel-
lauit membrum uirile ab eo, quod supra illud sedet’. The
passage of Horace has here been misinterpreted, no doubt
because of the existence of finros = ttcos in Greek (see above,
p. 30).

I do not accept that the grammarian Sacerdos (GL
VI.462.lff.) interpreted the obscure sopio in a remark directed
at Pompey as a fish name applied metaphorically to the men-
tula (see below, p. 64). 1

Proverbial expressions are often given an obscene implica¬
tion in Latin (see above, p. 29 on Catull. 94.2), and it is this
practice which accounts for the use of lepus in reference to the
mentula at Petron. 131.7 * "uides” inquit "Chrysis mea, uides,
quod aliis leporem excitaui” ’. Lepus would not have had any
currency with this meaning, but the tendency for the male
organ to be seen as an animal allowed Petronius to give the
expression an obscene twist. For this type of double entendre,
cf. Mart. 10.90.10 'noli / barbam uellere mortuo leoni’, where
leo suggests the cunnus. 2 For proverbial expressions put to a
sexual use in various ways, cf. Petron. 25.6, 39.7, 43.8 ('non
mehercules ilium puto in domo canem reliquisse’; for the prov¬
erb, see HA., Aurel. 22.6), 3 ibid, ('omnis mineruae homo’),
134.9. The examples in Petronius are all in speeches; they no
doubt reflect a form of popular humour. For an example in
Greek, see Argentarius, AJ 3 . 5.127.6.

I mention finally Ausonius’ ad hoc use of monstrum at Cent.
Nupt. 108, p. 216 P. 'monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens,
cui lumen ademptum’. The creature to whom Virgil (Aen.
3.658) was referring was the one-eyed Polyphemus. Ausonius
would also have had in mind the image of the penis as one-
eyed (see above, p. 30).

* For this view Bee Heraeus, loc. cit., Goldberger (1930), p. 46. See further
Adams, Pars pro toto.

1 For the proverb, see Otto, p. 190.

* See M. S. Smith, Petronii Arbitri Certa Trimalchionis (Oxford, 1976), ad
loc.

35

Mentula and its Synonyms

(iv) Anatomical metaphors

Sometimes a non-sexual anatomical term is applied meta¬
phorically to the penis (or another sexual part) because speak¬
ers spot resemblances between sexual and non-sexual parts. 1 A
similarity was observed, for example, between the penis and
both the nose (Mart. 6.36.1, Phaedr. 1.29.7f.; cf. Priap. 12.14,
where it is the clitoris that is called a nasus ) 2 and the tongue
(Phaedr. 4.15.1, Tert. Adu. Val. 1.3), though neither nasus nor
lingua occurs as a metaphor for the male organ.

Not infrequently uena = 'penis’ (Pers. 6.72, Mart. 4.66.12,
6.49.2, 11.16.5, Priap. 33.2, Lactant. Op. Dei 12.4, p. 43; for
in this sense, see Alcaeus, AP. 6.218.1, Leonidas, A.
Plan. 261.4). At Sernu 1.2.33 fnam simul ac uenas inflauit
taetra libido’) Horace implies by his choice of the plural that
passion causes all the veins of the body to swell (see Cels. 1
prooem. 19 'turn requirunt etiam, quare uenae nostrae modo
summittant se, modo attollant’), but he must primarily have
had in mind the mentula.

Penis (lit. 'tail’: this meaning was obsolete by the classical
period: see Cic. Fam. 9.22.2) was metaphorical when used of
the penis (for examples, see Catull. 15.9, 25.3, Hor. Epod. 12.8,
and below; the capacity of the tail of some animals to become
rigid was partly responsible for the image: see Mul. Chir. 122
'rigidam caudam habebit’). The metaphor has parallels in
cauda (see below) and Gk. ovpa (Soph. frg. 1078 Radt, Heysch.
s.v .) and Kcptcos (Aristoph. Thesm. 239, Herod. 5.45). Penis is
described by Cicero as an obscenity (Fam. 9.22.2 'at hodie
"penis” est in obscenis’), but the fact that he cites it openly
implies that it was a milder term than mentula, which he
alludes to only in a roundabout way. Latin speakers were clear
about the existence of a set of basic obscenities, and about
most of the components of that set, but obscenus is used rather

1 See further Adams, Cuius, p. 249.

2 It became a commonplace in the Middle Ages that the shape and state of
the nose reflected the nature of the genitalia. See Flos Medicinae Scholae
Salemi 1790, in S. De Renzi, Collectio Salemitana V (Naples, 1859), p. 51 'ad
formam nasi dignoscitur hasta Priapi’, and Michael Scotus, De Physiognomia
22.1 have not had access to either of these works. In the seventeenth century
see Regnier de Graaf, True tat us de uirorum organis generationi inseruientibus
132 (with Jocelyn, p. 74, n. 152). Ancient caricatures often give the nose a
phallic appearance (e.g. CIL IV.7248, Graffiti del Palatino 11.36). For mutila¬
tion of the nose as a castration symbol, see Virg. Aen. 6.497, Mart. 2.83.

36 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

loosely as an evaluative term in reference to the sexual
language. One finds it employed on the one hand to describe
a basic obscenity (Priap. 29.1), on the other a veiled sexual
allusion (Sen. Contr. 1.2.23). Evaluative terms are character¬
istically vague. Cicero’s assertion is undermined by the pres¬
ence of penis not only in the annalist Calpumius Piso (frg. 40,
quoted by Cicero, loc. cit. to show that the word had once been
decent) but also in Sallust (Cat. 14.2), neither of whom is likely
to have tolerated an outright obscenity or vulgarism. It is also
used by later satirists (Pers. 4.35, 4.48, Juv. 6.337, 9.43), who
rejected the primary obscenities. At worst penis was probably
a risque colloquialism of educated speech. Its lack of currency,
at least in the later period, is shown by its failure to survive
into the Romance languages (there is one example in the Pom¬
peian inscriptions, CIL IV.1939). Indeed in later Latin there
are signs that it was upgraded into an acceptable educated
term. Though it is avoided by early medical writers, there are
examples in Marcellus Empiricus (7.20, 33.2, 33.36). It is the
standard term for the male organ in the Scholia to Juvenal
(12 times), and is also found in Amobius (Nat. 5.18, 5.28), the
Historia Augusta (Comm. 10.9), Porphyrio (on Hor. Epod. 8.17,
12.8) and the grammarian Sacerdos (GL VI.462.3). Amobius
in particular employed a highly decent sexual vocabulary.
Augustine, commenting on Sallust’s use of the word, implies
that for him it was not sordid or vulgar: Dialect. 7, Migne 32,
p. 1414 'unde enim fit, quod non offenditur aurium castitas,
cum audit "manu uentre pene bona patria lacerauerat”? offen-
deretur autem, si obscena pars corporis sordido ac uulgari
nomine appellaretur? in hoc autem sensum animumque utri-
usque deformitas offenderet, nisi ilia turpitudo rei quae sig-
nificata est, decore uerbi significantis operiretur, cum res
eadem sit, cuius utrumque uocabulum est’. It is also an indi¬
cation of the tone of the word, that whereas to call someone a
mentula or a uerpa was to deliver an aggressive insult, penis
could be used pars pro toto as an affectionate term: Suet. Vit.
Hor. 'praeterea saepe eum inter alios iocos "purissimum pe-
ne<m>” et "homuncionem lepidissimum” appellat’. 1

Cauda = 'penis’ is securely attested only in Horace (Serm.
1.2.45, 2.7.49), who may have innovated in using the word
thus, perhaps on the analogy of the semantic change which

1 See Adams, Pars pro toto.

37

Mentula and its Synonyms

oupa, KcpKos and penis had undergone. The reflex of cauda in
French (MFr., NFr. queue) can mean 'penis’, but whether it
reflects a Latin usage or is a French innovation is open to
question, in view of the absence of examples in Old French
and also of examples of cauda = 'penis’ in later Latin. 1 The
TLL (in.627.32ff.) and OLD (s.v.) mistakenly cite Cic. Fam.
9.22.2 'caudam antiqui "penem” uocabant’ as evidence that the
ancients used to call the penis cauda. What Cicero meant is
that the ancients used to call the tail penis (whereas in Cicero’s
own day that word had come to be restricted to its sexual
sense). The only other alleged parallels quoted by the TLL are
glosses based on Cicero’s remark (note Gloss. Vat., CGL IV.
praef. p. xviii 'penem antiqui codam uocabant, id est uere-
trum’; the glossator has here made the same mistake as some
modern lexicographers). Another possible example not found
in the dictionaries 2 is in the Testamentum Porcelli: 'dabo don-
abo ... mulieribus lumbulos, pueris uesicam, puellis caudam’.
But the piglet has already left what appear to be his sexual
organs ( lumbulos : see p. 48) to women, and he seems to have
moved on to children (when puella is juxtaposed with puer it
almost always means 'female child’). Boys are to get his blad¬
der and girls his tail as some sort of plaything. On balance it
would seem best to treat cauda in Horace as an ad hoc meta¬
phor. Indeed one of the examples occurs in a description of
sexual intercourse using the image of horse riding ( Serm.
2.7.47ff.: see p. 165). In this context cauda is overtly figurative:
it is appropriate on the literal level to the horse, and on the
figurative to the man. One cannot argue from such an extended
metaphor that cauda had passed into common parlance. In
view of the limited attestation of the usage it is also unjustified
to see in codati at CIL IV.7240 an allusion to the male organ
(despite the editor ad loc.).

Bracchia maera is possibly applied to the phallus of Priapus
at Priap. 72.4 'quia si furaberis ipse / grandia mala, tibi brac¬
chia macra dabo’, but the passage is obscure. The writer may
have had in mind the resemblance between an extended arm

1 There are numerous examples of cauda = 'penis’ in William of Blois (Alda
470, 486, 489, 492, 496, 510, 514), which might conceivably have been taken
from the vernacular language, but it is equally likely that the highly literate
author knew the usage from Horace. Note too Matthew of Vendftme, Art.
Versif. 1.53.78 'cauda riget’.

2 It is referred to by Herter, 'Genitalien', 3.

38 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

and an erect mentula, particularly of the type seen in gro¬
tesque caricatures in ancient art. 1

Neruus (lit. 'sinew’, 'tendon’) = 'penis’ (Cic. Sest. 16, 2 Hor.
EpodL. 12.19, Petron. 129.8, 131.6, 134.1, Juv. 9.34, 10.205; cf.
Catull. 67.27 neruosius illud, and eneruo = 'castrate’ at Aug.
Ciu. 6.7 'homines [= gallos] infeliciter ac turpiter eneruatos
atque corruptos’; cf. veOpov at Plat. com. frg. 173.19 Kock)
should not be classed as a figurative usage of the above type.
The penis could be regarded as a tendon or group of tendons:
see Galen, VP 15.3, p. 344.24f. Helmreich to veupmSes aoi>|xa
= 'penis’, and Vindic. Epit. Alt. 28, p. 479.14 'ueretrum est
oblongum, natura neruosum . . .’ for its sinewy character (for
the 'tendons of the penis’, see Archil. 252 West a.\\’ direppw-
•yacri p-ikem Ttvovres). It is a form of specialisation when the
generic word for a tendon ( neruus ) or a group of tendons ( nerui:
for the plural referring to the penis, see the examples from
Cicero and Petronius cited above) is applied to just one of the
body’s tendons or groups of tendons (see further below, pp. 44ff.
on semantic specialisation as a form of euphemism). There is
usually an ambiguity about the plural use; though the writer
may have been thinking of the penis, his statement might be
interpreted as referring to all of the tendons of the body, in¬
cluding those of the penis (note in particular the Petronian
examples above).

It has already been seen (pp. 21, 25) that neruus in another
sense ('string’ of a bow or lyre) is sometimes used metaphori¬
cally of the male organ. One should not lump all sexual ex¬
amples of the word together.

(v) Scholastic metaphors

Since any aspect of everyday life may generate sexual meta¬
phors, it is not surprising that those with grammatical or
scholastic tastes should have found sexual symbols among the
objects of their interest. A combination of letters, C and D, is
sexually significant at Priap. 54: 'CD si scribas temonemque

1 Dover, p. 131 mentions a representation of a satyr’s penis which resembles
an arm.

8 There is little doubt that Cicero was thinking of the penis here:'... nullis
suis neruis - qui enim in eius modi uita nerui esse potuerunt hominis fratemis
flagitiis, sororiis stupris, omni inaudita libidine exsanguis’. See Grassmann,
p. 66, n. 154.

39

Mentula and its Synonyms

insuper addas, / qui medium uult te scindere, pictus erit’. The
penis and scrotum are formed by the combination of the two
letters, with an attached pole, temo (for temo = 'pole’, see,
e.g. Col. 6.2.7). The author may have recalled Aristophanes’
use of 5e\Ta to signify the shape of the female pubic hair at
Lys. 151. Letter puzzles of various types are typical of the
preciosity of epigram (in Latin cf. Priap. 7, 67, Auson. Epigr.
85, p. 343 P.). Ausonius went a stage further in forcing a
sexual implication on the shape of letters (or combinations of
letters) at Epigr. 87, p. 344 P., and he also gave the practice
a more scholastic setting. The grammarian Eunus, a cunnilin-
gus, sees in certain objects of his professional interest (letters)
a resemblance to the object of his sexual interest (the cunnus L 1
The letter rho is also made to symbolise the penis and scrotum:
10 'quid, imperite, P putas ibi scriptum, / ubi locari I convenit
longum?’

It was above all in the Medieval period that grammatical
and scholastic sexual metaphors came into vogue. For metrical
terminology, see Matthew of Vendome, Art. Versif. 1.53.79f.
'metri dactilici prior intrat syllaba, crebro / impulsu quatiunt
moenia foeda breues’. The first syllable of the dactyl, the long,
represents the penis, and the two short syllables, the breues,
the testicles. For the suggestive use of grammatical terminol¬
ogy, see Magister Golyas de quodam abbate 2 * * 5 'soloecizans partem
masculini parti foeminini generis associat’, where the 'part of
masculine gender’ has an obvious enough meaning: cf. the De
Monachis 3 'ubi possunt hoc discemi, dum suppositum in genere
feminino et appositum in masculino et conueniunt in metro
dactilico ascendendo ex hoc in illud’. An extended parody of
grammatical phraseology can be found in Lehmann, text no.
13, pp. 223f., but anatomical terminology scarcely plays a part
in this piece (see p. 179).

In the twelfth century the language of logic is sometimes
employed in sexual double entendre. See Babio 441f. 'quo te
concludam, dabit entimema sophisma, / et quod non falles, tale
sophisma feres’ (= 'I will castrate you’; the enthymeme was a

1 1 have discussed this puzzling epigram elsewhere: 'An epigram of Ausonius

(87, p. 344 P.)', forthcoming in Latomus.

1 For a text of this work, see T. Wright, The Latin Poems commonly attributed

to W alter Mopes (London, Cambden Society, 1841), pp. xlff.

5 See Lehmann, text no. 4, pp. 192ff.

40 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

syllogism reduced from three to two or even one proposition). 1
At 406 ('cum duo de trims planget adempta sibi’) the image is
also typical of Medieval interests (two members of the 'Trinity’
may be lost); see further 451 'nunc erit eclipsis, non ludes
amodo temis; / cimbala sola dabis; nolo nocere magis’. 2

(vi) A medical metaphor

In Mart. 11.60 punning use is made of medical terminology.
The use of aluta = 'penis’ requires explanation.

Sit Phlogis an Chione Veneri magis apta requiris?

pulchrior est Chione; sed Phlogis ulcus habet,
ulcus habet Priami quod tendere possit alutam
quodque senem Pelian non sinat esse senem,
ulcus habet quod habere suam uult quisque puellam.

Aluta indicated a type of soft leather with various functions.
The predominating use of the word is medical: it refers to an
emplastrum, or plaster (e.g. Scrib. Larg. 81, 82, 229). 3 Phlogis
had an ulcus which could tendere ('stretch’, or 'make erect’)
even Priam’s piece of soft leather (his plaster, or his mentula).
For the mentula languida likened to leather, see Petron. 134.9,
Mart. 7.58.3f., 10.55.5. An ulcus in medical terminology was
a sore (e.g. Marc. Emp. 33.3), in this case no doubt the sore of
satyriasis: note Serv. Virg. Georg. 1.151: 'nam proprie robigo
est, ut Varro dicit, uitium obscenae libidinis, quod ulcus uoca-
tur’. This disease was believed to afflict women as well as men,
and female sufferers forced even strangers to satisfy their lust
(Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.178 'haec omnia etiam mulieribus pas-
sione 1 affectis, sed plus in ipsis praeualet prurigo ob naturam.
indecenter enim ipsa in loca manus mittunt prurientibus uer-
endis, atque omnes ingredientes appetunt et suae libidini ser-
uire supplices cogunt’). Satyriasis was not simply a state of
mind: it had physical symptoms, such as dolor, incendium and
tentigo (Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.176 'sequitur autem aegrotantes
uehemens genitalium tentigo cum dolore atque incendio, cum
quodam pruritu immodico in ueneream libidinem cogente,
mentis alienatio, pulsus densitas . . .’; cf. CGL III.605.3 'sati-
riasis impetus desiderii circa ueretrum sine mensura cum do-

1 See Faral (cited above, p. 15 n. 3), p. 62, and H. Laye in Cohen, II, p. 53.

2 See Fulgheri (cited above, p. 15 n. 3) on both of the last two passages.

3 See TLL I.1799.53ff.

41

Mentula and its Synonyms

lore et pruritu’), redness of the parts, and even fever (Cael.
Aurel. Acut. 3.182). The burning sensation associated with the
desire for intercourse in this disease is probably alluded to in
Phlogis’ name (< 4>A.6£, 'flame’), 1 whereas Chione is cold
(< xwov, 'snow’). These puns are rendered the more likely by
the fact that Martial makes an obvious pun on the name
Chione in another epigram (3.34 'digna tuo cur sis indignaque
nomine, dicam. / frigida es et nigra es: non es et es Chione’:
Chione is worthy of her name in that she is cold, but unworthy
of it in that she is not white). Satyriasis was treated by the
application of poultices or plasters to the affected parts (Cael.
Aurel. Acut. 3.180, 181, 183, 184). At the literal level then
Priam is envisaged as carrying out the appropriate medical
treatment. But the treatment really required was sexual in¬
tercourse. Hence the usual female attendants (see, e.g. Cael.
Aurel. Acut. 3.184) were useless; it was a male physician who
was required (6 'ulcus ... I quod sanare Criton, non quod
Hygia potest’). This line corresponds to 11.71.7f. 'protinus ac-
cedunt medici medicaeque recedunt, / tollunturque pedes. O
medicina grauis!’ (Leda has claimed she is hysterica, and 'quer-
itur futui ... necesse sibi’ (2)). Clearly the literal use of ulcus
in 11.60 has nothing to do 2 with the metaphorical use at Lucr.
4.1068, indicating the festering sore of passion.

(vii) Tools, implements, vessels

Words for 'implement, tool, vessel’ and the like are often used
metaphorically of the penis: note, for example, Eng. tool, and
oxevoq at Antistius, A. Plan. 243.4. Some terms for specifi¬
cally agricultural tools used metaphorically have been seen
above.

Vas (lit. 'implement, vessel’, with two handles) had a risqu6
ring over a long period, with the ansae perhaps suggestive of
the testicles. It is first used in a pun (= 'male genitalia, tes¬
ticles’: on the failure of euphemistic and metaphorical
language to make a consistent distinction between the penis
and testicles, see p. 69) at Plaut. Poen. 863, where the speaker
is carrying certain vessels ('refero uasa salua’; cf. 847 'nunc
domum haec ab aedi Veneris refero uasa’). The sexual force

1 See Buchheit, Hermes 90 (1962), p. 256.

2 As suggested by Buchheit, op. cit., p. 256 n. 3.

42 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

which the word is to be given is prepared in the previous line
('facio quod manufesti moechi hau ferine solent’). 1 Vas is found
again in a double entendre (the context is Homeric) at Priap.
68.24 ('hie legimus Circen Atlantiademque Calypsun / grandia
Dulichii uasa petisse uiri’). It is also possible that there is a
double entendre in a freedman’s speech at Petron. 57.8: 'tu
. . . uasus fictilis, immo lorus in aqua’. 2 The formulaic phrase
lorum in aqua is used in reference to impotence at Petron.
134.9 (cf. Mart. 7.58.3f., 10.55.5), and the speaker may have
identified the referent {pars pro toto) with a mentula languida
after inadvertently making an identification with a mentula
rigida in uasus fictilis. The sexual use of uas may have be¬
longed in the classical period to that class of non-banal meta¬
phors which tended to occur in jokes or puns (cf. testis).
Petronius shares various such words with Plautus (cf. p. 43 on
peculium, pp. 20f. on gladius). Further evidence for the cur¬
rency of uas in a sexual sense is provided by uasculum (Petron.
24.7) and the derivative uasatus = mentulatus {HA., Hel. 5.3,
8.6, 9.3, 31.6). 3 There is a late example of uas at Aug. Ciu.
14.23 'ita genitale aruum uas in hoc opus creatum seminaret’;
here aruum is taken from Virg. Georg. 3.136.

Vas occurs in the form basus (with the typical vulgar mis¬
spelling involving b and u; for the ending, see Petron. 57.8
above) at GL VII.167.9: 'praeterea excipi cognouimus haec
quae subiecta sua cum interpretatione reddemus, quae nus-
quam nisi in diuersis cottidianis glossematibus repperi, ...
basus (JiaAAos, to atSoiov tuv ptoAdytov’. At CGL 11.469.52
('<t>a\A6s habus’) Heraeus’ conjecture 4 basus = uasus is un¬
doubtedly right; he points to a variant reading babus at GL
VII.167.9 which might have provided the intermediary be¬
tween basus and habus. Basus = 'penis’ is of course a ghost
word, if it is interpreted as anything other than a vulgar
misspelling of uasfus). It is not clear what Frassinetti had in
mind when he printed 'oro te, base, per lactes tuas’ at Pompon.

1 On the ’Plautine’ character of this passage, see Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini,
p. 46.

2 See Smith (cited above, p. 34 n. 3) ad toe.

3 Krenkel, p. 85 does not explain why he reads the graffito CIL IV.2268 in
the form 'Myrtale uassatos fellas’. The editor reads Cassacos, which is taken
at CIL IV, Index, p. 233 as a possible name.

4 Die Sprache des Petronius und die Glossen (Gymn.-Programm Offenbach
a. M., 1899), pp. 42f., = J. B. Hofmann (ed.), Kleine Sckriften von Wilhelm
Heraeus (Heidelberg, 1937), p. 136.

43

Mentula and its Synonyms

57 and argued (pp. 37, 103f.) that the lar familiaris appeared
in phallic form and was addressed as base. 1 In any case the
context does not permit the deduction that there is an address
of the phallus here.

A rough parallel to uas is provided by the use of instrumen-
tum at Petron. 130.4 'non me sed instrumenta peccasse’ (cf.
Amob. Nat. 5.14), a usage not noted in the TLL. Cf. the double
entendre in William of Blois, Alda 483 'instrumenta, quibus
tarn dulces utar in usus / edoceas, ubi sint inuenienda michi!’.

In the anonymous medieval comedy Lidia, malleus 'hammer’
suggests the mentula at 124: 'malleus incude terque quaterque
sonat’ (for sonare used in a similar sense, see Mart. 7.18.12,
Priap. 83.37; cf. Auson. Cent. Nupt. 119, p. 217 P.).

I mention finally an interpretation by Forberg (p. 272 n.) of
Auson. Epigr. 77.8, p. 341 P., which he would print in the form
'Lucili uatis subulo pullipremo’, deriving subulo from subula
(lit. 'awl’; hence subulo 'one who uses the awl’) in a metaphor¬
ical sense 'penis’. But subulo is a conjecture (Ferrarius). Sub-
pilo (sub pilo Z, pilio G), 'one who plucks from below’, is
metrically possible (cf. depilo), but it does not carry conviction.
One should obelise.

(viii) 'Private property’

Peculium (lit. 'private property’) = "penis’ tends to occur in
puns. At Plaut. Pseud. 1188 the pun is unintentional; it is the
next speaker, a leno, who gives the word a sexual force: 'mea
quidem haec habeo omnia, / meo peculio empta. BA. nempe
quod femina summa sustinent’. There may also be a pun in a
speech by Ascyltos at Petron. 8.3: 'prolatoque peculio coepit
rogare stuprum’. Just as uas (uasculum ) is used in a sexual
sense by both Plautus and Petronius, and then taken up by
the Historia Augusta (in the derivative uasatus), so peculium
is used sens. obsc. at HA., Hel. 9.3 (where uasatus also occurs):
'prodebatur autem per eos maxime, qui dolebant sibi homines
ad exercendas libidines bene uasatos et maioris peculii opponi’.
The author of the HA. had a taste for risque usages which he
had found in earlier comic writings (or in the current language

1 The fragment is quoted by Priscian, GL H.213.5. The manuscript variants
are baso, basso, base, basse (uaso Ribbeck).

44 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

of risqu6 jokes). Peculiati — mentulati occurs at Priap. 52.7
('pulcre pensilibus peculiati’).

Sexual metaphors reflect the nature of the society in which
they are coined. In modern societies machinery has often been
interpreted as sexually symbolical, 1 whereas the rustic imagery
that we have seen typifies a general feature of the Latin vo¬
cabulary. In Medieval Latin (particularly that of the twelfth
century) some of the classical classes of metaphors are still in
evidence, but current intellectual interests inspired certain
coinages (see the section on scholastic metaphors above). Little
sociolinguistic variation can be observed in the metaphors
which have been discussed. Scholastic metaphors would have
had a place only among the educated. Most of the other meta¬
phors were no doubt readily comprehensible to all classes (but
strutheum, titus and turtur seem to have been vulgar).

3. Euphemisms

(i) Specialisation

By 'specialisation’ I mean the use in reference to the sexual
organs alone of an imprecise word which might strictly have
indicated either a large area of the body or other bodily parts
as well as the genitalia. Such general terms are usually capa¬
ble of suggesting both the male and female parts indifferently,
though a few show a tendency to be used of the one part or the
other. Often the general word will be complemented by a speci¬
fying adjective or phrase, as for example in the expressions
'the female parts’ or 'the genital organs’. Strictly one should
reserve the term 'specialisation’ for those examples without
specification (e.g. 'the parts’), but I have not completely ex¬
cluded phrases with specification from the following discus-

1 Even Latin speakers were conscious of a sexual symbolism in certain types
of mechanical device. Hence the application of the terms masculus or femina
to various parts of machines, depending on their function: Vitr. 9.8.11 'in eo
autem minus tympanum includatur cardinibus ex tomo masculo et femina
inter se coartatis’, 10.7.3 'ita de supemis in modiolis emboli masculi tomo
politi et oleo subacti conclusique regulis et uectibus conmoliuntur’. No ana¬
tomical metaphor from this sphere is known to me.

Mentula and its Synonyms 45

sion. It would also be pointless here to restrict oneself to
examples which signify the male organ alone.

Pars (sing, and plural) usually has some form of specifica¬
tion. For examples without a complement, see, e.g. Pompon.
86 'partem insipui conclusi condepsui’, 1 Petron. 138.7 'resipis-
cerent partes ueneficio, credo, sopitae’, Cael. Aurel. Gyn.
p. 11.254 partibus = Soran. p. 188.17 Rose t& p.epTp A common
type of complement is a relative clause: e.g. Petron. 129.1
'funerata est ilia pars corporis, qua quondam Achilles eram’
(for the idea, cf. Antipater, A.P. 12.97.5f. ei yap T<p Ta t’ evepfie
Ta O’ inJjoOev ura ttcXoito, / i^v av ’AxiXXf|oq <t>«=pTepo<; AiaKtSeto),
132.12 'cum ea parte corporis uerba contulerim, quam . . .’,
Ovid Ars 2.707, Priap. 37.8f„ 48.1f., Anth. Lat. 309.9f., 317.6f. 2
Examples of pars with adjectival complements strictly belong
elsewhere, since pars -f adj. is usually equivalent to the neuter
substantival use of the adjective. For pars genitalis = genitalia,
see, e.g. Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.175, Porph. on Hor. Serm. 1.5.100,
for pars obscena = obscena, see Ovid Ars 2.584, Priap. 9.1, and
for pars pudenda = pudenda, see Ovid Ars 2.618. A special
class of examples are those in which the complement is a
demonstrative, as at Ovid Ars 3.804 pars . . . ista. Ipsae partes
(and ipsa loca) are particularly common in late medical works,
where they are probably intended as equivalents of Ta p.epT]
(for which see above) or Tot p.opia, with the demonstrative
playing the role of the definite article. For ipsae partes see
Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.33, Soran. Lat. (Mustio), pp. 26.1, 53.15,
117.9, and for ipsa loca, see Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.178, Gyn.
p. 38.964, Soran. Lat. (Mustio) pp. 17.16f., 22.13.

Particula = 'penis’ (Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.32, p. 130.14 'sa¬
tyriasis . . . tensionem particulae cum assidua patratione au-
idissimam facit’) may be unique, but pars is so common in
various sexual senses that it is not surprising to find a dim¬
inutive without diminutive force. Theodoras may have used
the word as a caique on ptoptov. 3

1 See Frassinetti, p. 104 on the possible interpretation of this fragment
(which he prints as no. 82).

2 It is not only pars which takes such complements. Cf., e.g. Plaut. Cos. 921
'saepit ueste id qui estis <mulieres>’, Varro Rust. 2.4.10 'naturam qua fem-
inae sunt’, Priap. 37.2 'membrum . . . unde procreamur’, ps.-Acron on Hor.
Serm. 1.2.45 'dicitur enim membrum illud, in quo libido est, esse salsum’.

3 See T. Sundelin, Ad Theodori Prisciani Euporista Adnotationes (Uppsala,
1934), p. 80.

46 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Membrum is largely restricted to the male organ (but see
Auson. Epigr. 78.4, p. 341 P., 87.3, p. 344 P., and perhaps
Lucr. 3.346). For examples without a complement, see, e.g.
Prop. 2.16.14 (plural, but the implication is unmistakable),
Ovid Am. 2.15.25, 3.7.13, Fast. 4.221 (plural). Membrum uirile
is not found until Tertullian (Adu. Val. 1.3). One combination
which may be unique is masculina membra at Phaedr. 4.16.13.

In a suggestive context corpus could take on a precise ana¬
tomical sense. For the implication 'penis’ see Ovid Am. 3.7.28
'languent ... I corpora’; cf. Lucr. 4.1056 'iacere umorem in
corpus de corpore ductum’, Mul. Chir. 177 'corpus earum, id
est uirginalis’ (of the female parts). For the sense 'testicles’ see
p. 69. Cf. Galen’s vevpwSes o-wp,a = 'penis’ (VP 15.3, p. 344.24f.
Helmreich).

Sometimes the whole person is mentioned instead of the
appropriate sexual part. At Priap. 47.4 ('illius uxor aut arnica
riualem / lasciuiendo languidum, precor, reddat’) the author
could have spoken of the mentula as languida, but he gener¬
alised the state of impotence to the whole body. The uses of
corpus seen above are similar. For comparable descriptions of
impotence, see, e.g. the use of iners at Catull. 67.26, Hor. Epod.
12.17, of langueo at Hor. Epod. 12.14, Epist. 1.20.8, and of
inutilis at Sen. Contr. 2.5.14, Schol. Juv. 6.366 (cf. utilis at
Mart. 11.81.3). For erection, see Catull. 32.11 'pertundo tun-
icamque palliumque’, Hor. Serm. 1.5.83f. 'somnus tamen au-
fert / intentum ueneri’, 2.7.47f. 'me / natura intendit’, Mart.
6.71.3 'tendere quae tremulum Pelian Hecubaeque maritum /
posset’ (cf. 11.58.1, 11.73.3), Priap. 4.1 'rigido deo’ (cf. 45.1), 1
68.32 'ad arrectos . . . procos’. And for castration, see Sen.
Contr. 10.4.17 'exoletos suos . . . amputant’, Isid. Etym. 12.7.50
'ueteres enim abscisos gallos uocabant’ (cf. CGL V. 559.3). The
female parts are alluded to thus at (e.g.) CIL IV.10004 'Eupla
laxa landicosa’, Mart. 11.81.2 'et iacet in medio sicca puella
toro’, Priap. 18.2 'laxa . .. femina’. This type of euphemism is
also found in Greek: note, for example ps.-Luc. Asinus 51
irepipdXXeTai p.e kcu apaoa turto oA.ov -irapeSc^aTo, in which
context Apuleius adopted a similar expression: Met. 10.22 'to-
tum me prorsum, sed totum recepit’.

The use of medius with a personal noun or pronoun is a

1 Contrast the (medieval) nominal usage rigor — 'penis’, in William of Blois,
Alda 509 (cf. 471).

47

Mentula and its Synonyms

common method of indicating inexplicitly the genital area of
male or female (or the cuius: see p. 116). For the penis referred
to in this way, see Petron. 129.6 'medius [fidius] iam peristi’,
Mart. 2.61.2 'lambebat medios inproba lingua uiros’, 3.81.2
'medios lambere lingua uiros’; cf. Catull. 80.6 'grandia te medii
tenta uorare uiri’. For the female parts, see Mart. 7.67.15 'sed
plane medias uorat puellas’. This euphemism was at least as
old as Plautus: see Cas. 326 'ego edepol illam mediam dirrup-
tam uelim’.

At CIL IV.5396 'Ccosuti fela ima’ ima, in association with
fellare, is presumably meant to suggest the male genitalia.
Elsewhere imum is used of the buttocks / anus (Aug. Ciu.
14.24). Contrast alta (Priap. 28.5, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 105,
p. 216 P.) and summa (Mart. 11.46.6, Priap. 74.2) of the mouth
put to a sexual use.

For loci (-a), see p. 94.

(ii) Adjoining parts

Sometimes an explicit word is replaced by a word which
strictly designates a neighbouring part without sexual sig¬
nificance. Of words in this category inguen was the most com¬
mon, and the most readily interchangeable with the voces
propriae for the sexual organs. Various words which might
seem on occasions to be used as synonyms of mentula or cunnus
can be shown to retain their literal sense, or at least to be not
genuinely interchangeable with the sexual terms. I discuss
below not only the genuine equivalents of mentula, but some
other words which have been falsely equated with it.

The euphemistic use of inguen (= mentula or cunnus) was
established in all types of Latin, from obscene graffiti ( CIL
IV. 1230 'Fortunatus futuet te inguine’), epigram (e.g. Mart.
3.81.5, 7.30.5, Priap. 1.6, 83.43, Auson. Epigr. 78.3, p. 341 P.,
86.1, p. 344 P., 87.1, p. 344 P.) and satire (e.g. Hor. Serm.
1.2.26, 1.2.116, Juv. 1.41), to high poetry (Virg. Georg. 3.281
'(hippomanes) lentum destillat ab inguine uirus’, Ovid Met.
14.640) and educated prose (Suet. Tib. 44.1, Nero 29). 1 For

1 Inguen enjoyed a vogue in the sense 'penis’ in later Medieval Latin. See
Vitalis of Blois, Geta 363, 364, 365, anon. Baucis et Traso 251. The presence
of the usage in the spurcum additamentum at Apul. Met. 10.21 is not incon¬
sistent with a twelfth century composition for that piece (see p. 230).

48 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

inguen as a substitute for cunnus, see Tib. 2.4.58, Mart. 3.72.5,
Juv. 9.4, 10.322.

bcrctnis, a synonym of lumbus, is used of the penis twice in
ps.-Luc. Asinus (9 kcu rj oo^nis io-yoeTw, 51 rj 8e tt|s tc ducjriios
T-qs efxfjs eix £T °) 1 Lumbus too is sometimes said to be capable
of signifying the sexual organs of male or female (or the cuius), 2
but the equation is usually unconvincing in Classical Latin.
In sexual contexts lumbus (generally in the plural) for the
most part occurs in descriptions of the movements of seduction
or copulation (e.g. Catull. 16.11 'duros nequeunt mouere lum-
bos’, Mart. 5.78.28 'uibrabunt sine fine prurientes / lasciuos
docili tremore lumbos’, Priap. 19.4 'crisabit tibi fluctuante lum-
bo’, Apul. Met. 2.7 'lumbis sensim uibrantibus spinam mobilem
quatiens placide, decenter undabat’; cf. Lucil. 278, Lucr.
4.1267, Amob. Nat. 2.42), where it should be taken in its
original sense (note particularly spinam in the last passage
quoted). A belief that the loins were the site of sexual desire
( Schol. Pers. 1.20 'bene dicit lumbum et non animum; dicitur
enim libido lumbis immorari’, Isid. Etym. 11.1.98 'lumbi ob
libidinis lasciuiam dicti, quia in uiris causa corporeae uolup-
tatis in ipsis est, sicut in umbilico feminis’) would account for
examples such as Pers. 1.20 'cum carmina lumbum / intrant
et tremulo scalpuntur ubi intima uersu’ and Juv. 6.314 'nota
bonae secreta deae, cum tibia lumbos / incitat’. In a few other
places lumbus seems to be used of a vaguely defined area
within which the sexual organs might be situated, but not
necessarily conterminous with them: Pers. 4.35 'penemque ar-
canaque lumbi / runcantem’, Juv. 6.024 'saepius in teneris
haerebit dextera lumbis’, 8.16 'si tenerum attritus Catinensi
pumice lumbum / squalentis traducit auos’. But it must be
admitted that lumbus is often in ambiguous contexts (e.g. Juv.
9.59), and it might sometimes have been interpreted as a
euphemism for a sexual organ. The diminutive lumbulus must
refer to the male sexual organs in the Testamentum Porcelli
('dabo donabo . . . mulieribus lumbulos’), and delumbo seems
to mean 'castrate’ at Sen. Contr. 10.4.2 ('alium distorquet,
alium delumbat’). In Christian Latin lumbus is used of the
loins (i.e. genitalia) as the source of procreation (e.g. Amob.
In Psalm. 7 p. 333D 'de lumbis meis egressus est’). 3

1 This meaning is not noted by L-S-J.

2 So Lewis and Short, s.v. n.A.

3 TLL VII.2.1809.40ff.

Mentula and its Synonyms 49

Abdomen signifies the male genitalia at Plaut. Mil. 1398
('quin iamdudum gestit moecho hoc abdomen adimere, / ut
faciam quasi puero in collo pendeant crepundia’). The punish¬
ment in question is that dealt to adulterers (castration: puns
on testis occur repeatedly in the passage), but since the sol¬
dier’s abdomen can be likened to the phallic amulets worn by
boys (1399; cf. Varro Ling. 7.97), 1 it is clear that the speaker
is thinking of the genitalia in general. For other sexual ex¬
amples of abdomen, see CGL V.632.2 'abdomen ueretrum’,
Don. on Ter. Eun. 424 'abdomen in corpore feminarum patiens
iniuriae coitus scortum dicitur’ (one may doubt whether scor-
tum had this meaning, but abdomen seems to be used as an
established term). The sexual use of abdomen must derive
from the meaning 'belly’ (for which see Cic. Pis. 41, Sest. 110,
Sen. Ben. 7.26.4, Juv. 4.107).

Lotus ('side’) is often vaguely suggestive of the male geni¬
talia, but it was subject to a contextual restriction and not
genuinely interchangeable with mentula. Lotus is used par¬
ticularly often to express the general site of the exhaustion
which might follow intercourse: e.g. Priap. 26.11 'defecit latus’,
Suet. Cal. 36.1 'latera sibi contubemio eius defessa etiam uoci-
feratus est’, Apul. Met. 8.26 'defectis iam lateribus’. It is by no
means as narrow in reference as mentula. Sexually significant
examples of latus alluding to the male role are widespread (cf.
Catull. 6.13, Ovid Am. 2.10.25, Ars 2.413, Petron. 130.8, Mart.
7.58.3, 12.97.4, Priap. 83.45). 2

In the Scholia to Juvenal colyphia at Juv. 2.53 Cluctantur
paucae, comedunt coloephia paucae’) is interpreted as a term
for the membrum uirile: 'pulmentum siue membrum uirile’.
This is an appropriate place to mention the word, but I am not
convinced by this interpretation. A colyphium (kwXxkJhov, a
derivative of kwXov) 3 was a cut (or preparation) of meat eaten
particularly by athletes (Schol. Juv. loc. cit., CGL V.55.39). It
can be deduced from Petron. 70.2 that it was a piece of pork

1 See Herter, 'Phallos’, 1733 on line 1399.

2 It should be added that in allusions to sexual intercourse latus is sometimes
said to join latus: Lucil. 305 'turn latu componit lateri’, Ovid Her. 2.58 'lateri
conseruisse latus’, Matthew of Venddme, Milo 123 Vex continuat lateri latus’.
Note too the grammatical parody in Lehmann, no. 13, p. 224.45 'iungatur
latus lateri’.

3 See Chantraine II, p. 605, s.u. ku>Xov; cf. Heraeus, Die Sprache des Petronius
und die Glossen, p. 19 = Kleine Schriften, pp. 85f. (cited above, p. 42 n. 4).

50 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(cf. Mul. Chir. 495, 813). 1 Vegetius (who was not thinking
specifically of the pig) defines it as the joint of the hip: Mul.
2.82.5 'uino et oleo calefacto colefium ipsum, hoc est iuncturam
coxae, diutissime confricant’. On this evidence colyphium used
as a culinary term might have indicated the whole or part of
a ham. If the word could genuinely be used of the penis, it
would have been transferred from one part of an animal’s
anatomy to a different (but adjoining) part of the human body.
It is true that culinary terms were sometimes applied to parts
of the human anatomy in Latin (e.g. cerebellum at Petron.
76.1), but one would at least like to have an intermediate
sense (such as 'human hip-joint, haunches’) attested as partial
corroboration of the scholiast’s note. The possibility cannot be
ruled out that the scholiast was led astray by comedunt, in
which he may have seen the commpn metaphor of 'eating’ the
genitalia (= fellare or cunnum lingere). For comedo used in
this way, see CIL IV.2360 (see p. 139). The view advanced by
some of the scholia and accepted by Herter 2 that colyphium
could signify a phallic-shaped loaf (cf. oXictPokoWi^) is at best
dubious, since it would then have to bear a striking diversity
of culinary senses.

lie is sometimes said to be capable of referring to the
pudenda, 3 but it does not genuinely display the semantic de¬
velopment seen in inguen. Medical writers thought of the ilia
as arteries situated somewhere in the lower abdomen: note
Plin. Nat. 11.208 'inter earn (uesicam) et aluum arteriae ad
pubem tendentes, quae ilia appellantur’. It is impossible to
determine what they had in mind. 4 5 There is another sense of
the word, of indeterminate relationship to the first, in medical
and other Latin. It could indicate the sides of the lower belly
between the hip and the pubes ('flanks’): 6 Cels. 4.1.13 'ipsa
autem ilia inter coxas et pubem imo uentre posita sunt, a
quibus ac pube abdomen sursum uersus ad praecordia peruen-
it’. Hence there were two ilia: see Cass. Fel. p. 131.3 'iuxta
umbilicum initians frequenter a sinistro ilio, aliquando a dex-
tro’, id. p. 118.20 'utraque ilia cooperies’. In this sense the

1 See Heraeus, loc. cit., J. Andr6, RPh 40 (1966), pp. 48f.

2 'Phallos’, 1744.

3 See Lewis and Short, s.v. (= 'private parts’).

4 See A. Emout and R. P4pin, Pline I’Ancien, Histoire Naturelle, Livre XI
(Paris, 1947), ad loc.

5 See TLL Vn.l.325.61ff.

Mentula and its Synonyms 51

word sometimes appears in sexual contexts. The ilia could be
described hyperbolically as 'bursting’ as a result not only of
emotion (see Virg. Eel. 7.26 'inuidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro’)
but also of sexual activity: see Catull. 11.20 'nullum amans
uere, sed identidem omnium / ilia rumpens’, 80.8 'clamant
Victoris rupta miselli / ilia’. This use of ilia is not unlike that
of latus above; it is based on the literal sense 'flanks’, and does
not reflect a change of meaning to 'penis’. For 'bursting’ of this
type, see p. 151.

At Catull. 63.5 He comes closer to a narrow sexual sense:
'deuolsit ilei acuto sibi pondera silice’. Ilei pondera is a circum¬
locution = testicles’. There are no grounds for seeing in the
use of ile here a development of a medical use of the word
signifying an artery between the penis and testicles. 1 Ile has
been used loosely of the lower belly or pubes within which the
sexual part (pondera = 'testicles’) is located, or to which it
could be said to belong.

In Christian Latin femur sometimes expressed the organs of
procreation, whether of male or female. 2 In Classical Latin the
thighs are regarded as a sexually significant part, in that the
space between them was the site of the sexual organs (for
femur in various types of sexual contexts, see, e.g. Tib. 1.8.26,
Ovid Am. 3.14.22, Priap. 83.25, Apul. Met. 8.25, 10.24, Apol.
33 (interfeminium), Auson. Cent. Nupt. 109, p. 216 P., Epigr.
87.5, p. 344 P.), but the word itself is not equated with either
mentula or cunnus.

(iii) 'Parts of shame’

The standard euphemism for the sexual organs of male and
female in Greek was ot&oiov. There are various comparable
words and expressions in Latin, some of them inspired by the
Greek word. I make no consistent distinction in the following
pages between the senses 'penis’ and 'female genitalia’, be¬
cause euphemisms of this type are not restricted to the one
part or the other.

1 See TLL Vn.l.325.56f.

2 See TLL VI.1.472.68ff.

52 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(a) Veretrum

The first example of ueretrum in recorded Latin is at Varro
Men. 282 'dein immittit uirile ueretrum’. 1 Its presence in Sue¬
tonius (Tib. 62.2 'repente ueretris deligatis’) and Scribonius
Largus (234 'ad ueretri tumorem lens ex aqua cocta et trita
rosaceo oleo mixta prodest’) suggests that it already had a
polite and euphemistic flavour. These examples, along with
that at Phaedr. 4.15.1 ('a fictione ueretri linguam mulieris. /
adfinitatem traxit inde obscaenitas’), are specialised in the
sense 'penis’. 2 The word was not always to have such a specific
meaning.

Veretrum became very common in later medical Latin. Since
it was interpreted as a derivative of uereor, it came to be
regarded as an equivalent of aiSoiov. For the association of
ueretrum with aCBoiov see, e.g. CGL 11.206.32, III.311.60,
349.71, 351.55. So in Caelius Aurelianus’ Gynaecia it is used
to translate oa’Soiov, as at p. 6.150 'femininum .... ueretrum’,
= Soran. p. 181.24f. Rose yuvaiKeiov at’8otov. See also Hippocr.
Aer. 9, p. 21.10, 22, translating ou’8oiov (-a). The derivation
from uereor may be a popular etymology, 3 given the early re¬
striction of meaning, and the fact that the word is generally
in the singular: other Latin euphemisms of this type are regu¬
larly in the plural, unlike ouSoiov (an exception to this rule
for Latin is at Jul. Obs. 25 'puer ex ancilla quattuor pedibus
manibus oculis auribus et duplici obsceno natus’).

Some glosses give ueretrum as a general equivalent of
ouSoiov, but others restrict it to the male organ (CGL V.335.56,
398.42; cf. Isid. Etym. 11.1.103 'idem et ueretrum, quia uiri est
tantum, siue quod ex eo uirus emittitur’). Clearly the earlier
specialised sense tended to linger on. These variations of
meaning suggest that the word had no place in ordinary
speech. Theodoras Priscianus’ glossing of ueretrum at Eup.
1.27, p. 82.1 ('de ueretri hoc est naturae causatione’) implies
that it was a learned and perhaps obscure term. It does not

1 Despite the assertion of Emout and Meillet, s.v. that the word is found first
in Imperial Latin.

2 The context at Phaedr. 4.15.1 is fragmentary, but it would seem that the
tongue is being likened to the penis.

3 Veretrum < uereor certainly looks like a possible formation (see M. Leu-
mann, Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre 0 (Munich, 1977), p. 313), but it does
not seem to have the typical instrumental sense of such words (cf. aratrum,
feretrum, rutrum (< ruere), rostrum ( <rodere ), rostrum (<radere)\ contrast
fulgetrum ).

Mentula and its Synonyms 53

survive in the Romance languages. The numerous different
forms which the word has in vulgar texts may be partly due
to its lack of currency: e.g. CGL 11.206.32 ueratrum, Anon.
Med. ed. Piechotta LV beletrum, Oribas. Syn. 1.40 Aa, p. 71.7
Mprland beretrum, Vindic. Gyn. 13 (G), p. 442 deretrum.

In medical writings one finds the same differences of mean¬
ing as in glosses. In the Mulomedicina Chironis and Vegetius’
Mulomedicina, in both of which ueretrum is a favoured word, 1
it usually means 'penis’ (note, for example, Mul. Chir. 385,
where ueretrum translates kotuXos: see above, p. 27), although
occasional examples might be interpreted more generally, =
ai’Soiov. In both Theodorus Priscianus (in addition to the ex¬
ample quoted above, see Eup. 1.77, p. 82.2, 2.32, p. 130.9) and
Vindicianus ueretrum indicates the penis (note Vindic. Epit.
Alt. 28, p. 479.14 'ueretrum est oblongum, natura neruosum
. . .’). Some writers in whom ueretrum means both 'penis’ and
'female genitalia’ (and hence = atSoiov) are Caelius Aureli-
anus (e.g. Acut. 3.179 = 'penis’, 184 muliebre ueretrum, Chron.
4.133 uirilis ueretri, 5.89 = 'penis’, Gyn. p. 67.123f. ueretri
feminini, 118.1522 feminino ueretro) and the Latin translator
of Hippocr. Aer. (at 22, p. 43.26, = 'penis’; cf. 9, p. 21.22f.
ueretro femineo ; the Greek has atSoiov (-a) in both places). At
CGL III.248.57 ueretrum is given the narrower sense 'testicle’
('8v8Cp.a>v ueretrum’). It is not unparalleled for auSouov or its
Latin equivalents to be applied to this part. Because of the
generality of such euphemisms they could be made to suggest
any taboo area. For au5oiov = testes, see Hipp. Berol. 48.1,
CHG I, p. 223.7 aifioiov to npo-neaov, ei p,-q Suvotcu iraXiv ei’s
tt)v x^pou' aiTOKaTaaTTjvoa (cf. Mul. Chir. 473 testis).

Veretrum was not confined to medical Latin in the later
period. Note, e.g., Amob. Nat. 5.14 'amputationes uirilium
ueretrorum’, 6.26 'nuda corpora feminarum et ueretrorum
magnitudines publicatae’, Lex Frisionum 22.57 ( MGH , Leg.
Tom. Ill, p. 678) 'si ueretrum quis alium absciderit’.

(6) Verenda

Another close equivalent of ai’Soiov was uerenda (note CGL
HI.248.61 'aCSoict uerenda’). Like the Greek word, it carried no
implication that the sexual parts were shameful or disgusting
(lit. 'parts that inspire awe, respect’). Verenda is first used

In Vegetius, see, e.g. 1.46.1,1.51,1.61.1, 2.79.6, 2.79.12.

54 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

extensively by Pliny the Elder, no doubt as a deliberate equiv¬
alent of at&oiov. It is only from book 20 onwards that uerenda
becomes common. 1 In book 11, for example, where there is a
discussion of the parts of the body based largely on Aristotle,
genitale (- ia ) occurs a number of times (246, 261, 263), and
indeed it is common elsewhere in the work (see below, p. 58).
Since Aristotle’s stock word was oa’Soiov, it is clear that Pliny
at this stage was content to employ an established Latin eu¬
phemism without seeking a close equivalent of the word in his
source. Another early example of uerenda is in the Younger
Pliny (Epist. 3.14.2 'alius os uerberat, alius pectus et uentrem,
atque etiam (foedum dictu) uerenda contundit’). Although uer¬
enda probably started as a caique, it must have found its way
into popular speech (cf. uirga, p. 14 above), since it has reflexes
in the Romance languages. 2 Verenda occasionally occurs in late
medical works, but it is outnumbered by ueretrum. Marcellus
Empiricus has it 7 times ( ueretrum 43). In Caelius Aurelianus
it sometimes (but not always) translates ai’5oCov: e.g. at Gyn.
p. 86.619, = Soran. p. 335.2 Rose too oa’8otov; contrast Gyn. p.
66.92, where muliebrium uerendorum renders yuvaiKeCcov
tottgdv (Soran. p. 306.14 Rose). For a non-medical example in
the later period, see Amob. Nat. 5.27.

(c) Verecunda

Verecunda in various forms (positive, comparative) and com¬
binations was probably regarded as an equivalent of oaSoiov.
For loca uerecundiora, see Marc. Emp. 8.177, 10.82, 31.16,
31.23, CGL IV.596.31, 604.2. Cf. Amob. Nat. 4.10 'ceteraque
alia locis posita in obscuris et uerecundioribus partibus’, Viet.
Vit. 3.22 'uerecunda . . . membra’. For the substantival use,
see e.g. Isid. Etym. 19.22.29 'uerecunda corporis his uelentur’
(cf. 19.33.1, Viet. Vit. 2.24). 3 Like ueretrum and ou’Soiov, uere¬
cunda also turns up as an equivalent of testiculi (CGL
IV.326.30 'culei uiriles testiculi uerecunda’).

Verecundia is given the same sense as uerenda at CGL

1 For examples, see O. Schneider, In C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae
Libros Indices (Gotha, 1857-8), s.v.; cf. A. Onnerfors, Pliniana, in Plinii
Maioris Naturalem Historiam Studio Grammatica Semantica Critica (Upps¬
ala, 1956), p. 23.

2 REW 9227.

3 For the genitive corporis, see Plin. Epist. 6.24.3 uelanda corporis, Justin
1.6.14 obscena corporis.

Mentula and its Synonyms 55

V.428.34 'uerenda uerecundia’. 1 The spelling may be a scribal
slip for uerecunda, but it is at least as likely that, like various
other abstracts (see p. 57), uerecundia had acquired a concrete
anatomical sense. Indeed at Aug. Ciu. 7.24 ('sic dehonestatur
nouae nuptiae uerecundia’) it is in a context in which its
meaning is transitional. The word still means 'modesty’, but
since the reference is to the ceremony whereby the bride sat
on the phallus of the god Mutunus Tutunus, it could also be
taken in a concrete meaning. Similarly pudicitia approaches
the concrete sense ' cunnus ’ at Mart. 10.63.8 'contigit et thal-
ami mihi gloria rara fuitque / una pudicitiae mentula nota
meae’. In Spanish verguenzas, the reflex of uerecundia, can be
used of the sexual organs. 2

(d) Pudenda et sim.

The substantival use of pudenda is found first in Seneca, where
it expresses indifferently the sexual parts of both sexes: Dial.
6.22.3 'totas in uiscera manus demittentium et non simplici
cum dolore pudenda curantium’. The adjectival use is attested
earlier: Ovid Ars 2.618 'conueniunt thalami furtis et ianua
nostris / parsque sub iniecta ueste pudenda latet’ (also general
in sense). For more specific examples (= 'penis’), see [Auson.]
Per. Od. 6, p. 395 P. 'ut erat nudus, erupit, foliorum oppositu
pudenda uelatus’, Aug. Ciu. 7.21 'pudenda uirilia’. 3 Pudenda is
one of various words in imperial Latin which, unlike oa’8oiov
and the Latin words discussed above, were not neutral in tone,
but (at least etymologically) implied an attitude of shame or
disgust. 4 Nevertheless they may have been regarded by some
users as Latin equivalents of ou’Soiov: note CGL 11.220.18
'ouSotov penes [= penis ] pudendum’. Pudibilis (used adjecti¬
vally) at HA., Hel. 12.2 ('ad honores reliquos promouit com-
mendatos sibi pudibilium enormitate membrorum’) is simply
a recherche variant for pudendus. 5

Other words (or expressions) in this category are turpia

' Cf. H. Ronsch, Semasiologische Beitrage zum lateinischen Worterbuch
(Leipzig, 1887-9), I, p. 76.

2 See C. J. Cela, Diccionario secreto (Madrid - Barcelona, 1968-71), II,
pp. 587f.

3 For pudenda = 'anus’, see Min. Fel. Oct. 28.9.

4 On the disgusting nature of the sexual organs, see Cic. Off. 1.126.

6 Cf. genitabilis at Amob. Nat. 4.28 ('genitabiles habuisse partes deum’) for
the commonplace genitalis.

56

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

{membra, etc.) (e.g. Sen. Ben. 7.2.2, Auson. Epist. 14.34, p. 246
P.; cf. Sail. Jug. 85.41 'uentri et turpissumae parti corporis’) 1
and obscena (either accompanied by a noun or in the neuter
plural). 2 For the singular use of obscenum, see Jul. Obs. 25,
quoted above p. 52. See further Cels. 5.20.3, 5.28.14B, 6.18.1,
Ovid Met. 9.347, Priap. 9.1, Suet. Cal. 58.3, Dom. 10.5, Justin
1.6.14. For inhonesta, see Isid. Etym. 11.1.102 'dicuntur autem
ista et inhonesta, quia non habent earn speciem decoris sicut
membra quae in promptu locata sunt’ (cf. membrum inhones-
tum at Aug. Ciu. 7.21, Avell. p. 433.13; cf. Vit. Patr. 6.3.11). 3
More circuitously the genitalia are in various places called the
'parts which cannot honourably ( honeste ) be named’: [Sail.]
Epist. ad Caes. 2.9.2 '. . . quoius nullum membrum a flagitio
aut facinore uacat? lingua uana, manus cruentae, pedes fu-
gaces; quae honeste nominari nequeunt, inhonestissima ’, Inu.
in Cic. 3.5 'cuius nulla pars corporis a turpitudine uacat, lin¬
gua uana, manus rapacissimae, gula immensa, pedes fugaces:
quae honeste nominari non possunt, inhonestissima’. Whoever
was imitating whom, the phraseology was hackneyed. R. G.
M. Nisbet 4 compares Rutilius Lupus 1.18 ( Rhet. Lat. Min., ed.
Halm, p. 11) 'membra quae non possumus honeste appellare’,
which is part of a translation of a lost speech of Lycurgus. Cf.
Cic. Phil. 2.47 'sed iam stupra et flagitia omittamus: sunt
quaedam quae honeste non possum dicere’, [Cic.] Inu. in Sail.
8.22 'ut ea dicam, si qua ego honeste effari possim’.

Pars tegenda {Priap. 1.7, = 'penis’) is not unlike the other
usages discussed in this section (cf. Ovid Met. 13.479, where
the same phrase is equivalent to cunnus ). Cf. uelanda at Plin.
Epist. 6.24.3, secretum, -a at Amob. Nat. 5.23 ('secreta riman-
tem summotisque arbitris circumiectas prolibus diripientem
membranulas’) and Amm. 28.1.28 ('ne uelamen quidem secreto
membrorum sufficiens retinere permissa est’), and interdicta
at Hor. Serm. 1.2.96.

1 E. Skard ( Symb. Osl. 21 (1941), p. 100 n. 3) compares Dem. 18.296 t-q
■yaorpi kou tois ailxurrois.

2 For obscenus = pudendus ('id quod pudorem mouet’), see TLL IX.2.159.
7 Off.

3 See further TLL VILl.1597.37ff.

4 JRS 48 (1958), pp. 3Off.

57

Mentula and its Synonyms

(iv) Abstracts

Elsewhere 1 I have shown that various abstract nouns take on
the concrete sense 'penis’ in Latin (see also above, p. 55 on
uerecundia), usually when complemented in a suggestive way
by a word more applicable to an anatomical term. For uenus
(usually = 'sexual intercourse’: see p. 189) = mentula , see
(e.g.) Mart. 3.75.6 'non uiuit sollicitata uenus’ (cf. Lucr. 4.1270,
Mart. 1.46.2, Juv. 11.167, Priap. 83.4); note too Apul. Met. 2.16
'et iam saucius paulisper inguinum fine lacinia remota impa-
tientiam ueneris Fotidi meae monstrans’. Amor is used in the
same way at Met. 9.16 'amoris languidi desidia tuos uolentes
amplexus discruciat’. For libido = 'penis’, see Petron. 87.1,
HA., Hel. 5.2. 2 Note too Vulg. Is. 47.2 'denuda turpitudinem
tuam’, of the uirgo filia Babylon (cf. CGL V.510.38, for the text
of which see CGL VII.93).

At Maxim. Eleg. 5.84 ('nec uelut expositum surgere uidit
puella opus’) opus ('penis’) could be derived from the common
use of the word = 'sexual intercourse’ (see p. 157); the semantic
change would be identical to that in uenus. Surgere is the
complement which facilitates the concrete interpretation. Ed¬
itors (following Ommerenus) unnecessarily change to onus.

(v) Descriptive and functional designations

A few terms can be called 'descriptive’ or 'functional’, in that
they refer to a physical characteristic or function of the organ.
This property need not be inherently offensive or sexual. The
antiquity of such designations is shown by podex (cf. pedo =
'fart’) = 'anus’. Nevertheless descriptive anatomical terms are
not common in Latin, and some of the sexual examples are ad
hoc coinages with a humorous intention.

The author of the Priapea (52.7) innovated in applying pen-
silia (lit. 'the things which hang 1 ) to the male genitalia. 3 For a
verb of hanging used in reference to the male genitalia, see
Lucil. 536 'pellicula extrema exaptum pendere onus ingens’.

The commonplace genitale (- ia, partes genitales, etc.) can
also be classified as a functional designation. Partes genitales
occurs first in Lucretius (4.1044), where it may be a conscious

1 Adams, 'Anatomical terminology*, p. 52.

3 At Sen. Contr. 1.2.23 libido is ambiguous between the senses ’semen’ and
'penis’: for the word in the first sense, see TLL VTI.2.1334.34fF.

3 Cf. Babio 446 'moechus es, et Fodio pendula membra dabis’.

58 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

rendition of -/evv-riTiKd nopta, which is common in Greek med¬
ical writers (e.g. 18 times in the VP of Galen: see the index of
Helmreich, s.v.). But there is no need to interpret the substan¬
tival uses of genitale and genitalia as deliberately Grecising,
especially in view of their distribution. Genitale is found first
at Cels. 4.1.11 (of the female pudenda), but neither it nor its
plural form is admitted elsewhere by Celsus, and it remains
rare in later medical Latin (for an example, see Marc. Emp.
26.128). 1 It is used mainly by Pliny the Elder. 2 Pliny, as we
have seen (p. 54), seems to have accorded genitale and genitalia
much the same status as ai&oiov (-a) in book 11. He was not
followed by later technical writers, and indeed he himself
eventually turned to uerenda as an equivalent of ai’Soiov (-a)
(see p. 54). For a non-technical singular example = 'penis’
Apul. Met. 10.22 is worth quoting: 'reputans . .. quo pacto
. . . mulier tarn uastum genitale susciperet’. In the correspond¬
ing passage of ps.-Luc. Asinus (51) no such word occurs
(toot 6 p.’ eis 5eos ovx'i (xeTpiov qye, p.f) m3 xwpqarotCTa rj yuvT]
8iotcT7rao"0eL-q). 3 Genitale was obviously a polite euphemism, but
it did not have a particularly scientific tone after the first
century. The distribution of the plural genitalia is much the
same. 4 It is especially common in Columella and Pliny, but
later is not markedly frequent in the medical language (but
see, e.g. Marc. Emp. 4.46, Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.176). It became
an educated genteelism rather than a technical term after the
first century (it is, for example, common in Christian writers),
and even in the early Empire it is not confined to scientific
works (see, e.g. Tac. Hist. 5.5, Juv. 6.514). B Among the various
phrases in which adjectival genitalis occurs may be mentioned
(e.g.) genitalia loca (e.g. Col. 6.36.2, 7.3.16) and natura geni¬
talis (Marc. Emp. 33.49). Such combinations too seem to have

1 For examples, see TLL VL2.1815.42ff.

2 See TLL, loc. cit., citing some 16 examples.

3 In much the same passage the spurcum additamentum (at Apul. Met. 10.21)
has the extraordinary genius= genitale (’inspiciens quod genius inter antheras
excreuerat’). This is based on the gloss CGL IV.588.32f. 'genium genitale
naturale numen uirgo seu uigor’, which is a conflation of two separate glosses,
’genitale naturale’ and 'genium numen uigor’: see Mariotti, pp. 243f. = pp. 62f.
Nothing could better illustrate the spurious artificiality of the additamentum.

4 See TLL V1.2.1815.59ff.

3 In the second passage Cqui rapta secuit genitalia testa’) genitalia could
mean 'genitals’ in general, or 'testicles’. Designations of the male pudenda are
sometimes ambiguous between the senses 'penis’ and testicles’ (see below,
p. 69).

59

Mentula and its Synonyms

had a vogue after Celsus in the first century, 1 both in technical
(Columella) and educated prose. They are not numerous in
later medical writings. It was ueretrum, uerenda and certain
equivalent words and combinations which achieved popularity
in the later medical register.

For tumor and rigor = mentula, see William of Blois, Alda
509 'time sedet ille tumor, pendet rigor ante superbus’ (cf.
470f.).

(vi) Natura, naturalia, necessaria, sexus

Natura was a widespread euphemism for the sexual parts of
either sex (but note Pelagon. 153 'supra naturam, qua meiat’,
where it is closer to the sense 'urethra’). It was neither overtly
technical nor vulgar, but generally acceptable in the educated
language. There are examples in technical writers (e.g. Varro
Rust. 2.2.14, 2.4.10, 2.7.8, Plin. Nat. 10.181, 28.176, Marc.
Emp. 33.49, 33.71, Mul. Chir. 132, 2 Veg. Mul. 1.33, 2.53.2 (=
'penis’), Theod. Prise. Eup. 1.77 tit., Cass. Fel. pp. 118.15, 22,
119.2 (= 'penis’), Pall. 14.60), but insufficient to establish the
word as a technical medical term. Indeed it is avoided by
Celsus. Examples in obscene literature are few ( Atell. nom.
inc. 4 Ribbeck, = Suet. Tib. 45, Priap. 38.2, in a pun). The use
of the word by Cicero (Nat. 3.56, Diu. 2.145) shows that it had
a polite tone.

Natura has an exact parallel in Gk. (Jrixns, and it is likely
that learned users of the word sometimes had in mind the
Greek usage, 3 4 even if natura did not necessarily originate as a
caique. It is a mistake to say that the sexual use of (Jakris is
not securely attested until after the corresponding use of
natura:* note the fourth century defixio IG III.3.89a.6 5 6 AecnroTot
'Epp/ij, KaTOxe KaTexe 4>(pu)vixov k[cx]i t& dKpw[Trjp]ux onrrov
to(i>)s iToSas: t&s xeipot<; 4 /u X'n v tt|v TT[u](yr))v. It seems

likely that, because the sexual parts (and anus: note Jul. Obs.
40 'posteriore natura solidus’, = cuius; cf. 26 'solidus posteriore

1 See TLL V1.2.1813.81ff.

2 For further examples in this work, see the index in Oder, p. 396.

3 So Shipp, p. 560. Shipp points out that in the modem language cixOcris is
probably used only of the aCSoiov.

4 So A. Pellicer, Natura, lttude simantique et historique du mot latin (Paris,

1966), p. 360.

6 R. Wuensch (ed.), Defixionum Tabellae Atticae. Dr D. M. Bain drew my
attention to this inscription.

60 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

naturae parte’) performed certain 'necessities of nature’ (cf.
Cic. Off. 1.126), they came to be called 'parts etc. of nature’
(Varro Rust. 3.12.4 'inspicere oportet foramina naturae’,
Phaedr. 4.16.5 'naturae partes’), and then more simply
'nature’. 1 There is little to be said for the view 2 that natura was
associated by some speakers with nascor, indicating 'place of
birth’, i.e. 'female genitalia’. All the examples in Varro indi¬
cate the female parts, but Cicero uses the word indifferently
of the penis (Nat. 3.56) and female parts.

Naturale (-ia) stands to partes naturales (Cels. 7.18.1) as
genitale (-ia) to partes genitales. It is used for the first time by
Celsus, in whom it is the standard word for the female pud¬
enda. It was no doubt coined on the analogy of the existing
sexual use of natura. Celsus seems deliberately to have devised
recherche terminology for the sexual organs (cf. caulis). I deal
with naturale for convenience here alongside natura, though
it might strictly have been postponed to Chapter III. In the
singular naturale is used by Celsus specifically of the vagina
(e.g. 5.26.13 'at cum uulua percussa est, dolor inguinibus et
coxis et feminibus est; sanguinis pars per uulnus, pars per
naturale descendit’; cf. 7.26.1C, 7.26.4). In the plural it could
have a slightly less specific sense ('female pudenda’, including
the labia): e.g. 2.7.15 'feminae uero oras naturalium suorum
manibus admotis scabere coguntur’ (cf. 7.18.1). Celsus also
employed naturalia sometimes as an inclusive term for the
sexual parts of both sexes (e.g. 1.9.3, 5.20.4), and in the Toledo
fragment there are two examples of the singular naturale used
in the same way: line 37 'subestque, ut in prioribus, iunctarum
quoque partium dolor simulque naturalis ipsius maxime dum
urina descendit’ (cf. 19). 3 Naturale, -ia is not used unambigu¬
ously by Celsus in the sense 'penis’, 4 though there is an example

1 See Pellicer, pp. 363f.

2 Pellicer, pp. 361f.

3 See U. Capitani, Maia 26 (1974), pp. 161ff. (see p. 170 for naturale).

4 Though I should interpret both examples in the Toledo fragment as mean¬
ing 'genitalia, urethra’ (of male and female indifferently), a case might be
made that Celsus primarily had in mind an affliction of males. Similarly at
4.28.1 ('est etiam circa naturalia uitium, nimia profusio seminis; quod sine
uenere, sine noctumis imaginibus sic fertur, ut interposito spatio tabe homi-
nem consumat’) Celsus may have been thinking above all of males, but since
gonorrhoea was believed to be an affliction of both sexes he could have in¬
tended naturalia quite generally of the genitalia of both sexes.

I am grateful to the Director of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae for supplying
me with some of the examples discussed here.

Mentula and its Synonyms 61

of partes naturales at 7.18.1 indicating the male genitalia in
general.

Naturalia (along with partes naturales, etc.) continued to be
used occasionally after Celsus, mainly in technical prose, and
sometimes as a result of one writer imitating another. It never
again had the status that it was given by Celsus. Columella,
who knew the work of Celsus, has it twice, once as a general
term (6.30.4 'de bitumine collyrium inseritur naturalibus’),
and once of the pudenda of a mare (6.27.10). Pelagonius, who
drew on Columella, has naturalia loca twice (152, 162), the
second time ('aliud Columellae . . . e bitumine collyrium insere
naturalibus locis’) in a passage based on Col. 6.30.4. The ex¬
ample at 152 ('spongias calidas locis omnibus naturalibus ad-
moueas’) is general in sense. In the Mulomedicina Chironis
naturalia loca is also used of the sexual organs of a mare (748).
An example in Theodorus Priscianus ( Eup. 3.8, p. 230.2 Rose),
referring to the female pudenda ('fumigiis bene olentibus ad
inferiora naturalia prouocabo’), was mistakenly changed to
naturam by Rose. 1 One non-technical writer who admitted the
usage (again of the female pudenda) was Justin: 1.4.2 'hie per
somnum uidit ex naturalibus filiae ... uitem enatam’. See
further Nonius p. 153 L., Isid. Etym. 4.7.34, CGL IV.460.33,
V.511.13; note also Firm. Mat. Math. 8.4.6 naturale corpus =
cunnus.

Occasionally in late Latin naturalia is used of the male
genitalia: Pallad. Hist. Mon. 1.14 (Migne 74, p. 292) 'postula
enim quaedam, quam carbunculum uocant, nata est in ei ipsis
uerendis, ac tanta per sex menses aegritudine laborabat, ut
naturalia ipsius putrefacta radicitus caderent’, Mythogr. 1.102,
p. 33 Bode 'Iuppiter patri naturalia resecauit et in mare proie-
cit’, ps.-Tit. Epist. 409 (Rev. B6n6d. 37 (1925), p. 58) 'natur-
alium dolor utique adulteri sunt et pederasti’.

(pwis occasionally found its way into technical works as a
loan-word: e.g. Anon. Med. ed. Piechotta LXXXI 'delabet sibi
fisin’ (= cunnum).

The genitalia are sometimes 'necessary parts’ or the like in
Latin: necessariae partes (Gaius Inst. 3.193, Firm. Mat. Math.
8.31.7), loca necessaria (Mul. Chir. 52, 179, 364, Firm. Mat.
Math. 5.3.26), necessaria (Firm. Mat. Math. 4.19.19). Cf. avay-
Kotiov at Artem. 1.79, p. 95.22 Pack to avayKaiov (touto yap to

1 See Sundelin (cited above, p. 45 n. 3), pp. 67f.

62 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

aiSoiov KaXeiTou): cf. 1.45, p. 52.5, Suda, s.v. avayKaiov. These
Latin expressions have been taken as caiques on the Greek
usage, 1 but it is impossible to be certain; one would not expect
such a caique in Gaius. The sexual organs performed certain
'necessities of nature’ (cf. avayKoaa at Xen. Cyr. 8.8.11), and
hence they were 'necessary parts’. The euphemism might have
developed independently in both languages.

Sexus comes close to the concrete sense 'sexual part’ at Plin.
Nat. 22.20 'radicem eius alterutrius sexus similitudinem re-
ferre’. Cf. CGL IV.241.14 'genitalia sexus uirilis et femine’ (cf.
588.17).

(vii) Res and elliptical usages

Res (cf. Eng. thing) is used both' of sexual intercourse (see
p. 203), and of the sexual organs of either sex (= cuius at
Mart. 11.43.11; = 'penis’ at Amob. Nat. 3.10 'Priapum inter
deas uirgines atque matres circumferentem res illas proe-
liorum semper in expeditionem paratas’ (cf. 5.26)). Similar to
this usage is the employment of a neuter pronoun instead of
a specific noun for the male organ (e.g. Catull. 67.27 'neruosius
illud’; cf. Petron. 134.11). This is not the only elliptical method
of alluding to the part. For feminine adjectives with mentula
deleted, see, e.g. Catull. 56.7 'hunc ego, si placet Dionae, /
protelo rigida mea cecidi’, CIL IV.760 'oblige mea, fela . ..
mentlam elinges . . . destillatio me tenet’, Mart. 9.47.6; cf.
Catull. 80.6 'grandia te medii tenta uorare uiri’ (sc. membra?).
I have collected further examples of this and similar phenom¬
ena elsewhere. 2 It is almost always the male organ which is
referred to by means of an ellipse.

4. Miscellaneous

(i) Muto, mutonium

Mut(t)o is of unknown etymology. The word is related to the
name of the marriage deity Mutunus Tutunus, and it seems

1 See G. Carlsson, Eranos 25 (1927), pp. 189f., E. Lofstedt, Late Latin (Oslo,
1959), p. 100.

2 Adams, 'Euphemism’.

Mentula and its Synonyms 63

to have provided the cognomen Mutto (CIL V.1412, 8473; for
this type of cognomen, cf. Penis at CIL VIII.27237). 1 Hence it
must once have been in general or vulgar use. Muto may have
survived in Italian dialects with a derived meaning, 2 but there
is no evidence that it had a prolonged currency in the period
of recorded Latin. 3 The first example of the word is in Lucilius
(307 'at laeua lacrimas muttoni absterget arnica’). Elsewhere
it is found only in Horace ( Serm. 1.2.68), who would certainly
have taken it from Lucilius (cf. Porph. ad loc. 'muttonem pro
uirili membro dixit Lucilium imitatus’); indeed both Lucilius
and Horace personify muto. There are no grounds for thinking
that it was still in popular use in the Augustan period. But
the derivative mutonium, which Lucilius also uses (959), 4 turns
up in Pompeian graffiti ( CIL IV.1939, 1940), and its derivative
mutuniatus is found in Martial (3.73.1,11.63.2) and the Corpus
Priapeorum (52.10). Mutonium may have replaced muto. The
exact tone of the two words is impossible to determine, but
their distribution suggests that they were vulgar or obscene.

(ii) Fascinum, phallus

A fascinum was an amulet with the shape of a phallus worn
around the neck for the purpose of warding off the evil eye
(see Porph. on Hor. Epod. 8.18, and on such objects in general,
Varro Ling. 7.97). Fascinum was sometimes transferred to the
human penis (Hor. Epod. 8.18, Petron. 92.9), but it usually
indicated representations of the organ. It is used thus twice in
the Corpus Priapeorum (28.3, 79.1, of the phallus of statues of
Priapus), twice at CIL XIV.3565 (= CE 1504) (lines 4, 20), and
at Catalept. 13.20. Petronius employs it of a dildo at 138.1

1 On muto and mutonium, see Herter, RhM 76 (1927), pp. 418ff., especially
pp. 424ff.

2 TLL VIII.1730.8ff., C. Battisti and G. Alessio, Dizionario etimologico ital-
iano (Florence, 1950-57), IV, p. 2540 ( mutone = 'mucchio grande’). It is not
certain that muto lies behind such dialectalisms: see Rohlfs, Dizionario di-
alettale delle Tre Calabrie (see above, p. 13 n. 1), n, p. 73, s.w. mutoni, mu-
tugnu (< *tumugnu < *6qpoviov?).

3 An example in Vitalis of Blois, Geta 348 ('sed sic dum crebro singultu
colligit iram / ad curtum muto tenditur usque genu’ (A; membrum B, mentum
C, uenter DEF, priapus G)) could have been taken over from Horace.

4 See CGL 11.131.61 'muttonium irpofJao-KoivToi' Xoukios’ (edd. ■npoPaoKaviov
AowiXios). It is impossible to say whether mutonium originally indicated a
phallic amulet.

64 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Cprofert Oenothea scorteum fascinum, quod .. . paulatim coe-
pit inserere ano meo’). In Amobius it is the standard word for
an artificial phallus (4.7, 5.39, 7.33), and Augustine uses it in
the same way at Ciu. 6.9. One of the two examples mentioned
above with the meaning 'human penis’ (that at Petron. 92.9)
is applied to a grotesquely endowed man in a type of expression
('the man seemed to be an appendage of the penis’: 'ut ipsum
hominem laciniam fascini crederes’) paralleled at Priap. 37.8f.
'fer opem, Priape, parti, / cuius tu, pater, ipse pars uideris’.
Eumolpus, the speaker, may be suggesting that the man re¬
sembled ithyphallic statues.

The rare loan-word phallus (< <|>aXA6<;), which in Greek was
largely restricted to the designation of cult objects, 1 and was
also so used in Latin by Amobius (Nat. 5.28), seems to have
turned up in a Pompeian graffito in application to the human
penis: CIL IV. 10085 'phallus durus Cr(escentis), uastus’. The
word was no doubt familiar enough to educated Latin speakers
(note Cic. Rep. 3 frg. 4 'Sardanapallus ille uitiis multo quam
nomine ipso deformior’), but it would not have been domiciled
in any variety of Latin. The Pompeian example, if it has been
read correctly, must be an isolated transfer.

(iii) Sopio

The obscure word sopio at Catull. 37.10 ('frontem tabemae
sopionibus scribam’) may well mean 'penis’: the sentence
would be a threat to draw representations of the phallus as a
mark of contempt. Phallic drawings warded off the evil eye,
and any apotropaic instrument could be used with hostile in¬
tent against a person. Sopio is also attested at Pompeii in a
context which shows it to have been offensive: CIL IV.1700
'diced nobis Sineros et (?) sopio’. In at least one other hand is
written 'ut merdas edatis, qui scripseras sopionis’. The insult
aimed at Pompey quoted by Sacerdos (GL VI.461.30—462.3
'illud de Pompeio, qui coloris erat rubei, sed animi inuere-
cundi, "quem non pudet et rubet, non est homo, sed sopio”.
sopio autem est aut minium aut piscis robeus aut penis’) would

1 See Herter, 'Genitalien’, 3.

65

Mentula and its Synonyms

also seem to require the sense 'penis’ for sopio} The penis could
be described as both red (e.g. Mart. 2.33.2, Amob. Nat. 7.33)
and shameless; and for the structure of the remark, cf. Catull.
115.8 'non homo, sed uero mentula magna minax’.

(iv) Salaputium

Another obscure word in Catullus is salaputium (53.5), which
was applied to Calvus by a member of the audience at one of
his speeches ('Di magni, salaputium disertum!’). Salaputium
has been derived from salax + putium, 1 2 but the derivation is
not convincing. The interpretation of the word as meaning
'penis’ is based mainly on the fact that Calvus was of noto¬
riously small stature. Penis was used pars pro toto by Augustus
of Horace (see above, p. 36), who was also small. Small boys
are sometimes likened to the penis, and both Augustus and
the speaker quoted by Catullus may have used the terminology
appropriate to children. 3

(v) A nonsense word?

The only possible case of a nonsense word = mentula in Latin
is xurikilla at CIL IV.8380, 4 but the reading has been chal¬
lenged ( Auricilla ?). 5 6

(vi) A glossator’s mistake

CGL V.493.32 ('cadurdum [sic] membrum uirile; nam proprie
cadurda dicuntur summitates naturae femineae sicut uirorum

1 This passage has always been thought to contain an unexplained word
ropio, but A. Lunelli, Aerius, storia di una parola poetica (Varia neoterica)
(Rome, 1969), p. 125 has demonstrated that the s was misread as r. S. Mariotti,
ap. Lunelli, p. 126 noted that the quotation is a trochaic septenarius without
its initial syllable. Lunelli (pp. 129ff.) also makes some interesting, but in¬
conclusive, remarks on the reading and interpretation of CIL IV.1700, and on
the text at Petron. 22.1. In view of the offensive character of sopio (whatever
its meaning), it seems most unlikely that Petronius would have admitted it.
The vocabulary of the narrative of the Satyricon is extremely decent.

2 See E. Bickel, RhM 96 (1953), p. 95 (putium <praeputium (?)).

3 See Bickel, loc. cit., E. Fraenkel, Horace (Oxford, 1957), p. 19 n. 4; cf.

Adams, Pars pro toto.

* This interpretation is that of the editor (M. Della Corte).

6 See J. Svennung, Studi in onore di Luigi Castiglioni (Florence, 1960), II,
pp. 973ff.

66

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

praeputium’) is based on a misinterpretation of Juv. 6.537
('magnaque debetur uiolato poena cadurco’). The glossator saw
in cadurcum a term for 'clitoris’, and assumed that the word
could also indicate the membrum uirile.

5. Some specialised terms

(i) Testicle

The obscene word for 'testicle’ was coleus (etymology obscure).
Its tone is commented on by Cicero, Fam. 9.22.4 ('et honesti
"colei Lanuuini”, "Clitemini” non honesti’), but the implica¬
tion of the passage is uncertain. Coleus occurs in epigram
(Mart. 9.27.1,12.83.2, Priap. 14.8, 25.7, 29.4), but not in satire.
It is attested at Pompeii, in what appears to be an offensive
collocation ( CIL IV.4488 'seni supino colei culum tegunt’), and
it survives in the Romance languages (Fr. couille, etc.). 1 There
are two examples in freedmen’s speeches in Petronius, one in
a proverb (44.14 'si nos coleos haberemus’, 'if we were virile
men’), 2 the other used pars pro toto of lecherous men (39.7 'in
geminis autem nascuntur bigae et boues et colei’). This latter
usage was idiomatic: cf. Mart. 12.83.2 'omnes quem modo colei
timebant’. Fabianus, the subject of the poem, made a habit of
deriding men with a hernia; he would have been feared by
lechers, because a rupture was a hazard of lecherous behaviour
(Varro Men. 192, Catalept. 12.7f., Querolus p. 19.13-16 Ran-
strand). It is possible that coleus was not as offensive as men-
tula, cunnus and futuo. Cicero admits the word in Fam. 9.22,
if only in certain (obscure) combinations. The freedmen in
Petronius do not as a rule use obscenities (but note coco at
71.8, and see the Appendix). But it could be said that both
examples in Petronius are in special contexts in which the
tone of the word may have been softened. Coleus is found once
in the fragments of mime, juxtaposed with coco in an expres¬
sion which must have savoured of gross indecency (Laber. 66
'in coleos cacas’). The derivative coleatus is used twice by Pom-
ponius (40, 69); it was probably a humorous neologism (note

1 REW 2038.

2 For the proverb, see Otto, p. 87.

Mentula and its Synonyms 67

especially 69 'coleatam cuspidem’, where cuspis is an ad hoc
metaphor: see p. 20).

The alternative form coleo, which also survives in Romance
(It. coglione, Fr. couillon, etc.), 1 is reported in a gloss: CGL

II. 579.46 'famex spado contusis culionibus’. For this suffix in
anatomical terms, cf. late Latin testo = testis (CGL V.516.46
'testones testiculi’; cf. 559), 2 and also posterio = posteriora (CGL

III. 596.7 'anum posterionem’, > Olt. postione, OFr. poistron).
Testis (lit. 'witness’) exemplifies the tendency to personify

the male organ or its parts (for such a personification, cf.
-irapaaTciTTis = 'testicle’, 3 and see below on 8t8vp.oi). When used
as an anatomical term testis never wholly lost its literal sense
in the classical period. Hence it is common in puns (Plaut.
Cure. 31, Mil. 1420, 1426, Phaedr. 3.11.5, Mart. 7.62.6, Priap.
15.7; 4 cf. Plaut. Cure. 30, 622, Mil. 1416, 1417). It obviously
had a risque and jocose quality, which would explain Cicero’s
characterisation 'non nimis (honestum)’ (Fam. 9.22.4). Simi¬
larly it is described by Amobius as vulgar: Nat. 7.24 'polimina
porro sunt ea quae nos proles uerecundius dicimus, a uolgar-
ibus autem adsolent cognomine testium nuncupari’. 5 Testis is
however occasionally found in sober prose (e.g. Plin. Nat.
11.263, Suet. Nero 28.1, Porph. Hor. Serm. 1.2.43). On some
late medical examples, see below.

The diminutive testiculus, unlike testis, was specialised in
the anatomical sense with its etymology no longer felt, and it
achieved currency in scientific prose. Celsus, who does not use
testis, has testiculus 33 times. Scribonius Largus has testiculus
twice, testis not at all, and Marcellus Empiricus prefers testi¬
culus by 23 : 5. On the other hand veterinary writers made
free use of testis, perhaps because they were prepared to tol¬
erate a more slangy vocabulary (Columella, testis 4 times,
testiculus 5 times, Pelagonius, testis 7, testiculus Mul. Chir.,

1 REW 2036.

2 See further Svennung, p. 130.

3 napacrrartis occasionally has this sense (e.g. Plat. com. frg. 174.13 Kock),
but in the medical language it had certain more technical senses (epididym¬
ides, vasa deferentia (KiptroeiSeis irapaardTcn), seminal vesicles (dStvociStis
TrapaorctToa)): see Jocelyn, pp. 67, 69, 70.

4 Testis is found only here in the Corpus Priapeorum. The author preferred
coleus, just as he had a taste for the other obscenities.

5 The glossing of testes by testiculos at ps.-Acron, Hor. Serm. 1.2.45 merely
shows that testiculi was the more commonplace word.

68 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

testis 31, testiculus 25, Vegetius, Mul., testis 17, testiculus 9). 1
Testiculus is also used by later satirists, who favoured a eu¬
phemistic vocabulary. Persius has it at 1.103 ('haec fierent, si
testiculi uena ulla paterni / uiueret in nobis?’), in an expres¬
sion of proverbial character in which, as we have seen (p. 66),
a freedman in Petronius has colei. Persius toned down the
proverb, just as at 1.112 ('"hie” inquis "ueto quisquam faxit
oletum” ’) he tones down an inscriptional prohibition, nor¬
mally containing caco (cf. Petron. 71.8). 2 Juvenal preferred tes¬
ticuli to its synonyms (6.339, 372, 11.157, 12.36).

A Greek personification of the testicles is seen in 8C8v|ioi,
'twins’ (e.g. Philodemus, AJ 3 . 5.126.6, Argentarius, AJ 3 .
5.105.4 oopavos evros eyet Kai tcuva kcu 8i8vp.ov<;). 3 Gemini turns
up with this sense in later Latin, where it is presumably a
caique: Amm. 16.7.5 'etiam turn paruulus abstractis geminis
Romanis mercatoribus uenundatus’, Solin. 13.2 'testiculi eius
adpetuntur in usum medullarum: idcirco cum urgeri se intel-
legit, ne captus prosit, ipse geminos suos deuorat’. But the
implication of Petron. 35.3 ('super geminos testiculos ac ri-
enes’) and 39.7 ('in geminis autem nascuntur bigae et boues et
colei’) is that gemini would readily have been understood as
having an anatomical implication (cf. Plin. Nat. 26.162 'arsen-
ogoni autem semen geminum esse testibus simile’), even if it
was not at the time a current metaphor. Another possible
caique on 8C8vp.oi is pares at Priap. 50.6 ('totam cum paribus,
Priape, nostris / cingemus tibi mentulam coronis’); 4 but it would
not be an exact rendition.

Proles is said by Amobius to be a euphemism for 'testicles’:
Nat. 7.24 'ea quae nos proles uerecundius dicimus’ (for the full
quotation, see above, p. 67; note that the word is here treated
as plural). Cf. CGL IV.529.58 'inprolis nondum uir’ (i.e. =
impubes). This must have originated as a learned substitute
for pubes, which among its various uses could be applied to the
testicles ( Anth. Lat. 109.1 'incertum ex certo sexum fert pube

1 It is worth noting in this connection that Pelagonius (unlike medical
writers) was prepared to use coco and merda: see the Appendix.

2 For oletum facio, see also Paul. Fest. p. 221 'oletum stercus humanum.
Veranius: "Sacerdotula in sacrario Martiali fecit oletum”

3 8C8v(jloi was also in use in the medical language, to which it may have been
introduced by Herophilus: see Galen, VP 14.11, p. 323.22 Helmreich . . . T<p
Kot0’ tuvTT|V SiSupLip' xctXei yap 'Hpo4>i\os outio 70 V opxiv. Cf. Jocelyn, p. 66.

4 The text here is doubtful: see Buecheler, RhM 18 (1863), p. 398, = Kleine
Schriften (see above, p. 32 n. 3), I, p. 345.

Mentula and its Synonyms 69

recisa’). For proles, see further Amob. Nat. 5.6 ('proles cum
ipsis genitalibus’), 5.23, 5.35, 5.37.

Polimen = 'testicle’, which Arnobius mentions in the same
passage, was strictly applicable to the anatomy of pigs: cf.
Paul. Fest. p. 267.9 'polimenta testiculi porcorum dicuntur’. J.
Andre 1 has made the attractive suggestion that polimen, po-
limentum were derivatives of poKDire (= 'play ball’) attested
only at Paul. Fest. p. 279 'pollit pila ludit’. The authenticity
of the verb has not been widely accepted, but Andre associates
it with Tiakka 'ball’, irciXXw and perhaps pello. As instrumental
derivatives polimen and pclimentum might originally have
meant 'ball’. Used of the testicles they would have been meta¬
phorical (with abundant parallels in other languages: e.g. Eng.
ball, bollock). Indeed the scrotum of the pig might have served
as the casing for the type of ball in question.

There are many vaguer ways of indicating the testicles,
usually by means of blanket euphemisms which could also
designate the penis or even the female pudenda. In the appro¬
priate context the sphere of reference of such a word might be
narrowed down to just one part of the genitalia. It has already
been mentioned (pp. 53f.) that ueretrum and uerecunda, both
equivalents of ou’Soiov, are sometimes given the sense 'testicles’
(CGL III.248.57, IV.326.30). Corpus was used with the testicles
apparently in mind by Horace ( Serm. 1.2.43 'dedit hie pro
corpore nummos’) and Phaedrus (3.11.3 'damnum insectatus
est amissi corporis’). Genitalia, as we have seen (see p. 58 n. 5),
is sometimes ambiguous between the meanings 'penis’ and
'testicle’ (cf. Apul. Met. 1.9, 7.23, Amob. Nat. 5.39). Membra
genitalia at Ovid Am. 2.3.3 and Col. 7.11.2 ('duobus membris
genitalibus’), and genitales partes at Col. 6.26.2 indicate the
testicles. For membrum with this implication in another com¬
bination, see Tib. 1.4.70 ('et secet ad Phrygios uilia membra
modos’). Note too ps.-Acron on Hor. Serm. 1.2.43 'pro corpore
autem: pro obscena parte corporis’.

Virilitas (lit. 'manhood’, an abstract which became concrete) 2
and uirilia are common euphemisms for the male organ, but
because they usually occur in contexts in which castration is
at issue, it is possible that they were often thought of as

1 RPh 40 (1966), pp. 5If.

2 Cf. Artem. 1.45 Sio auSptia irpos tiviov KaXeiToa.

70 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

referring to the testicles. 1 At Petron. 108.10 ('Giton ad uirilia
sua admouit nouaculam’), Plin. Nat. 7.36 ('mox barbam et
uirilitatem prouenisse’; cf. 24.18), Mart. 11.29.1 ('languida
. . . uirilia’) and Paul. Fest. p. 84.27 Out se priuent uirilitatis
parte’) the sense is closer to 'penis’ or 'genitalia’ in general,
but in at least some of the following passages the writer may
primarily have been thinking of the testicles: Plin. Nat. 35.165
'uirilitatem amputare’, Mart. 9.5.5 'uirilitatis . . . ereptae’,
Quint. 5.12.17 'uirilitate excisa’, Apul. Met. 7.25 'uirilitatis
lanienam’ (cf. 1.13, 8.15), Amob. Nat. 5.11 'uirilibus spoliare-
tur abscisis’, ps.-Acron on Hor. Serm. 1.2.46 'multis etiam
uirilia amputata sunt’, Isid. Etym. 8.11.79 'uirilia amputasse’.
Virilis pars at Col. 7.11.2 means 'testicle’ ('cum uirilem partem
unam ferro reseratam detraxeris’: the reference is specifically
to one of the testicles), whereas at Fest. p. 410 the phrase
indicates the penis ('strutheum in mimis praecipue uocant
obscenam partem uirilem’). 2 In Spanish verija, the reflex of
uirilia, has been generalised to cover the sexual organs of both
sexes, but it is still used specifically of the testicles in appro¬
priate contexts. 3

Comparable with the above words are various phrases in
different genres expressing the 'deprivation’ or the 'loss of the
man’ in someone (with uir): Catull. 63.6 'itaque ut relicta
sensit sibi membra sine uiro’, Lucan 10.133 'ferro mollita
iuuentus / atque exsecta uirum’, Amob. Nat. 1.41 'Attin Phry-
gem abscisum et spoliatum uiro’, 5.13 'ut ille se uiro . . . pri-
uaret’, 5.39 'arboris, sub qua sibi Attis uirum demessis
genitalibus abstulit’, Luxorius, A nth. Lat. 295.1 'exsecti .. .
uiri’. Cf. ps.-Luc. Asinus 33 eyw 5e Tj8ri eSctKpvov ws d'rroXeo’wv
onmKot tov ev T<p ovcp dv8pa.

Another word discussed earlier which varies in meaning

1 It is of course not always possible to be certain what part of the anatomy
a writer has in mind when he speaks of unmanning. Castration might be
effected by excision of the testicles (note the puns on the double sense of testis
at Plaut. Mil. 1416-26), but a mutilation could involve the removal of the
whole organ. For removal of the mentula (or mentula and testicles), see, e.g.
Plaut. Mil. 1398, Hor. Serm. 1.2.45f., Mart. 9.2.14. On castration and muti¬
lation, see Herter 'Genitalien’, 24f.

2 Another circumlocution, nota uirilis at Priap. 66.1 Ctu, quae ne uideas
notam uirilem, / hinc auerteris’), refers to the penis. Cf. Euenus, AP. 9.602.4

dvSpOS . . . TV7TOVS.

3 See Cela (cited above, p. 55 n. 2), I, p. 268, II, p. 588.

Mentula and its Synonyms 71

between 'penis’ and 'testicles’ is uas. At Plaut. Poen. 863 (see
above, p. 41) it seems to imply the testicles.

The testicles may be described as a 'weight’ or 'burden’, as
at Lucil. 536 'pellicula extrema exaptum pendere onus ingens’
(testibus in the previous line makes it clear what Lucilius had
in mind). Note too Catull. 63.5 'deuolsit ilei acuto sibi pondera
silice’. On the other hand at Mart. 7.35.4 ('Iudaeum nulla sub
cute pondus habet’) the allusion is to someone bene mentulatus,
and the weight is primarily that of the mentula. Cf. Ovid Fast.
4.241 'onus inguinis aufert, / nullaque sunt subito signa relicta
uiri’ (of a mutilation of both parts), Petron. 92.9 'habebat enim
inguinum pondus tarn grande, ut ipsum hominem laciniam
fascini crederes’. 1 For the theme of the weight of the genitalia,
see Mart. 10.55, Priap. 69.4, Erycius, A. Plan. 242.1 cos Papi>
toOto, IlpC'ri'ire, Kod eu T€TvX.u)p.evov oirXov . 2 Conversely, for the
leuitas of the organ, see Schol. Juv. 6.369 'time faciunt eunu-
chos, quando iam pubuerint et penem maiorem ferant, ut licet
leuis sit, tamen idoneus ad concubitum’.

See also above, p. 57, on the possible use of onus at Maxim.
Eleg. 5.84. I can see no reason to take mala at Virg. Eel. 2.51
('ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala’) in a secondary
sense 'testicles’. 3 In later Medieval Latin various ad hoc meta¬
phors for the testicles were coined. On petrae, see above, p. 22;
on breues (syllabae), see p. 39; on logical terminology, see p. 39.
Cf. Matthew of Vendome, Art. Versif. 1.53.77f. 'Venus excitat
aegra bilibres / fratres, membra tepent cetera, cauda riget’ (for
bilibres, see Juv. 6.372 'ergo expectatos ac iussos crescere pri-
mum / testiculos, postquam coeperunt esse bilibres’), Babio
452 'non ludes amodo temis. / cimbala sola dabis : nolo nocere
magis’ (cimbala BCP, symbola D).

1 Another sense of pondus was 'rupture’ (so ponderosus = 'ruptured’): see
Amob. Nat. 7.34, Aug. Ciu. 22.8, Querolus p. 19.14 Ranstrand 'sume Paphien
Cytheren, Briseiden, sed cum pondere Nestoris’ (Nestor is said to have had a
hernia at Juv. 6.326; the implication of the passage is that Querolus, with
girl friends like these, will suffer a rupture from excessive sexual activity: see
above, p. 66).

* A fresco in the entrance of the house of the Vetii at Pompeii shows Priapus
weighing his mentula. A photograph can be seen in M. Grant, Erotic Art in
Pompeii (London, 1975), p. 53. For pondus in allusion to the penis in Medieval
Latin, see William of Blois, Alda 495 'impar erat precium pro ponderis
imparitate’.

3 See Goldberger (1930), p. 35. Goldberger’s view that mala at Priap. 72.4
has a sexual sense is absurd.

72 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(ii) Gians

The frequency of caput used of the glans suggests that it was
in common use: Petron. 132.8, Anth. Lat. 696.4 (Petron. frg.
37 Buecheler), Mart. 11.46.4, Priap. 83.5, 32, 37, Auson. Cent.
Nupt. 107, p. 216 P., Cass. Fel. pp. 118.15, 22, 119.2, Maxim.
Eleg. 5.98. 1 This usage reflects the tendency for the organ to be
personified: indeed in some of the above passages the mentula
is said to 'raise its head’ or the like (e.g. Mart. 11.46.4 'nec
leuat extinctum sollicitata caput’, Priap. 83.5 'nec uiriliter /
iners senile penis extulit caput’). Cf. uertex at Maxim. Eleg.
5.100, and below on cacumen.

The medical technical term was glans, a caique on pdXavos
(the loan-word balanus is found at Marc. Emp. 33.67, Soran.
Lat. (Mustio), p. 75.20), used almost exclusively by Celsus (e.g.
6.18.4, 7.25.1 A, 7.25.2). But Martial puns on this anatomical
sense at 12.75.3 'pastas glande natis habet Secundus’ (the
buttocks (or anus) of Secundus 'feed on’ the glans). Here glans
has tended to shift its reference to the whole organ. Note too
glandula at Fulg. Aet. Mund. 8, p. 157.21 Helm (= 'penis’).

Vindicianus mentions caulus and dartus as alleged terms
for the glans at Epit. Alt. 28, p. 479.16f. Rose: 'cacumen eius
dicitur caulus siue dartus’. Cacumen seems to have been used
here in much the same way as caput above. kooXos usually
referred to the penis as a whole. One cannot say whether
Vindicianus used it loosely, or whether it genuinely shifted to
the glans in Greek medical terminology. The case of dartus is
more puzzling. In the Greek medical language SapTos (lit.
'skinned, flayed’, < Sepw) usually denoted one of the tunics
surrounding the testicles (the one that could be 'stripped off):
see Rufus, Onom. 197, Cels. 7.18.2 'super ea ualentior tunica
est, quae interiori uehementer ima parte inhaeret: darton
Graeci uocant’. 2 It is difficult to see how it could have changed
meaning in the required manner in the genuine medical
language. Vindicianus may have misunderstood it as denoting
that part of the organ which could be 'skinned’, viz. the glans.
It is most unlikely that either of these usages in Vindicianus
had entered the Latin medical language.

1 Inguinis cephalum in the spurcum additamentum at Apul. Met. 10.21 was
no doubt an artificial creation based on this use of caput. See Mariotti, p. 239
= p. 57.

1 The term may have been coined by Herophilus: see Jocelyn, p. 67.

73

Mentula and its Synonyms

The corona of the glans is called 'circulus’ by Celsus: 7.25.1C
'sub circulo glandis scalpello deducenda cutis ab interiore cole
est .. . ubi iam sine infla mm atione est, deligari debet a pube
usque circulum’.

(iii) Foreskin

Praeputium, an obscure formation, 1 was not a medical technical
term, but it must have been inoffensive (it is found in Christ¬
ian Latin, as well as at Juv. 6.238, 14.99). Celsus speaks
simply of the 'skin’, cutis (7.25.1 A, IB, 1C, 2, 3; for 8epp,a with
this sense in Greek, see below, and Aristoph. Eq. 29, Plat,
com. 174.18 Kock, CGL 11.206.49 'uerpus ... 6 kenrodeppos’),
and such phraseology seems to have been commonplace: 2 cf.
Mart. 7.35.4 'Iudaeum nulla sub cute pondus habet’ (cf. 7.30.5
recutitorum), Porph. on Hor. Serm. 1.5.100 'urbanissimum no¬
men Iudaeo inposuit "Apella” dicens, quasi quod pellem in
parte genitali Iudaei non habeant’, id. on Hor. Serm. 1.9.69
'curtos Iudaeos dixit, quia uirile membrum uelut decurtatum
habent recisa inde pellicula’, ps.-Acron on Hor. Serm. 1.5.100
'finxit nomen, quasi sine pelle, aut certe Apella [circumcisus
Apella], qui praeputium non habet’, 3 Schol. Juv. 14.104
'Iudaeos, qui sine pellicula sunt’, Marc. Emp. 33.21 'et tumor
sedabitur et uitium omne reducta pellicula sanabitur’. Simi¬
larly in Celsus tergus ('hide’) is a few times used of what
appears to be the outer surface of the foreskin: 7.25.2 'subter
a summa ora cutis inciditur recta linea usque ad frenum, atque
ita superius tergus relaxatum cedere retro potest, quod si
parum sic profectum est, aut propter angustias aut propter
duritiem tergoris, protinus triangula forma cutis ab inferiore
parte excidenda est sic, ut uertex eius ad frenum, basis in
tergore extremo sit’. The sexual use of excoriare in the spurcum
additamentum at Apul. Met. 10.21 is based on the metaphor¬
ical application of words for 'hide’ and the like to the foreskin.

Cucutium (Diosc. II. p. 207.12 'uerpis cucutium crescere fa-
cit’) seems to be a remodelling of cucullus ('hood’ for the head;
the 'head’ in this case is the caput, 'glans’) by means of the

1 See F. Bader, La formation des composes nominaux du latin (Paris, 1962),
p. 378 n. 26.

2 See Housman, Classical Papers, pp. 1181f. for some examples.

3 An Old French derivative (pelete) of the reflex of pellis means 'foreskin’
(FEWVm, p. 167 a).

74 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

suffix of praeputium. 1 For cucutium = cucullus, see SJIA.,
Claud. 17.6 'cucutia uillosa duo’.

For a vague phrase used of the foreskin, see Mul. Chir. 474
'stantis equi in ipso ad extremum cole iaculum interpunge’.
That the allusion is to the foreskin is clear from Hipp. Berol.
48.1, CHG I, p. 223.15f. eorwros too iinrav, pa<{>i8i X€Trrr| otK-
po0iy<Ls KevToOvres to irapa tov koevXov Seppa (note Scppa).

At Anth. Lat. 696.4 (Petron. frg. 37 Buecheler) the foreskin
is called inguinis ora : 'ni tamen et ferro succiderit inguinis
oram / et nisi nodatum soluerit arte caput’.

When at Cent. Nupt. 116, p. 217 P. Ausonius wrote of the
hasta of the bridegroom as possessing cortex, 'bark’ ('et super
incumbens nodis et cortice crudo / intorquet summis adnixus
uiribus hastam’), he introduced a metaphor of his own for the
foreskin. Glubo ('skin, peel off bark’) had been used metaphor¬
ically by Catullus (58.5) of the act of retracting the foreskin
(by intercourse or masturbation?: see p. 168), and this meta¬
phor probably led Ausonius to speak of the organ as having
'bark’. Catullus’ use of glubo was imitated by Ausonius at
Epigr. 79.7, p. 341.

Celsus introduced the term frenum to indicate the ligament
connecting the foreskin to the bottom of the glans (7.25.2,
quoted above). 2 In Greek this part was called KwoSeapr) (Pollux
2.171, Hesych. s.u.) or (perhaps) creipa: see GL 1.548.26 'hi freni
XaXivoC; sed et frena et frenum inuenimus, XtyeTcu 8e koiI creipa
4nxreu>s, freni’.

(iv) Scrotum

Celsus names scrotum as the current term for this part at
7.18.2: 'communis deinde utrique omnibusque interioribus
sinus est, qui iam conspicitur a nobis: oscheon Graeci, scrotum
nostri uocant’. Whatever the etymology of scrotum, 3 it is ob¬
viously the same word as the (hyperurbane?) scrautum, which
is said by Paul. Fest. p. 449.7ff. to denote a type of leather

1 See Emout and Meillet, s.v. cucullus ; for a different explanation (< Gall.
*kukka), see FEW 11.2, p. 1461. But it seems necessary to assume a contami¬
nation involving praeputium to explain the sense in Dioscorides Lat., and the
suffix.

2 I do not accept (see Jocelyn, p. 75) that frenum had any connection with an
alleged use of equus = 'penis’ (see p. 34).

3 For a possibility, see Pokomy, I, p. 947.

75

Mentula and its Synonyms

quiver: 'scrautum pelliceum, in quo sagittae reconduntur, ap-
pellatum ab eadem causa, qua scortum’. It is not surprising
that words indicating containers, bags and the like should
provide terms for the scrotum (cf. 'leather bag’, = 'scro¬

tum’ at Erotian ir.58). 1 Scrotum, despite Celsus’ remark, never
caught on in the popular language. It did not enter Romance
except as a learned loan-word, and it is scarcely attested in
Latin itself. The scrotum is rarely mentioned in popular
speech. The testicles rather than their container provide a
fertile source of popular humour. The words for 'scrotum’ in
Latin are all of infrequent attestation.

Folliculus occurs a few times: 2 see Amob. Nat. 5.21 'arietem
nobilem bene grandibus cum testiculis deligit, exsecat hos ipse
et lanato exuit ex folliculi tegmine’, Mul. Chir. 677 'si intelligis
folliculum ipsum et testiculos sanos sine tumore esse’, Cael.
Aurel. Acut. 3.165 'quibus intestinum ... in folliculum fuerat
lapsum’ (cf. Chron. 3.104), Lex Frisionum 22.86 ( MGH , Leg.
Tom. Ill) 'qui utramque coxam cum folliculo testium telo trai-
cerit’. Folliculus survives as OFr. forcel, 'scrotum’, attested in
the thirteenth century. 3 Follis itself is used in this sense in the
manuscript O at Juv. 6.373 B: 'mangonum pueros uera ac
miserabilis urit / debilitas, follisque pudet cicerisque relicti’.

For fiscus ('money bag 1 5 ), see Isid. Etym. 11.1.105 'fiscus est
pellis in qua testiculi sunt’, and for suffiscus, see Paul. Fest.
p. 403.11 'suffiscus folliculus testium arietinorum, quo uteban-
tur pro marsuppio, a fisci similitudine dictus’.

Bursa (< fKipcra) was more influential, though it does not
appear in the sense 'scrotum’ until the Middle Ages. The Greek
word means 'leather, hide’, and this is the meaning that the
earliest examples of the loan-word in (Medieval) Latin have
(e.g. Aldh. Virg. 1.35, p. 279.11, Gloss., St.-S. IH.294.59). The
meaning 'scrotum’ is quoted first from the thirteenth century
by the Mittellateinisches Worterbuch* but it is found somewhat
earlier in the Elementarium of Papias (s.v. pyga, which is
glossed by 'nates uel bursa mentula’). 6 Bursa survives all over

1 See Jocelyn, p. 67.

a For folliculus in another anatomical sense of a sexual kind ('utricle’ of a
horse’s penis), see, e.g. Mul. Chir. 148, 184 (cf. TLL VLl.1015.80fT.)

3 FEW in, p. 687.

4 Ed. O. Prinz and J. Schneider, vol. I (Munich, 1967), 1627.29ff.

5 See p. 229 on pyga, and cf. Mariotti, p. 233 = pp. 51f.

76

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

the Romania. Its reflexes can generally indicate the scrotum;
Rum. bo§, however, has shifted slightly to the sense 'testicle’. 1

(v) Pubic hair

In Classical Latin there was a distinction between capillus
('hair of the head’) and pilus ('hair of the body’, including 'pubic
hair’: note Plin. Nat. 29.26, Mart. 11.22.7, and cf. pilosus (?) at
CIL IV.1830 add. p. 212 (= CE 230)), which was maintained
in some areas of the Romance-speaking world (Fr. cheveu /
poil). In other areas (Rumania, Sardinia, S. France) pilus as¬
sumed the function of capillus. 2 Sometimes even in Latin there
is a blurring of the distinction between capillus and pilus. For
pilus used of the hair of the head, see, e.g. Petron. 109.9, Sen.
Dial. 9.8.3, Plin. Nat. 11.130.

Persius, who had something of a taste for ad hoc sexual
metaphors (see above, p. 33 on gurgulio = mentula), coined
two plant metaphors for the pubic hair at 4.39-42, plantaria,
'cuttings, plants’, and filix, 'fern’: 'quinque palaestritae licet
haec plantaria uellant / elixasque nates labefactent forcipe
adunca, / non tamen ista filix ullo mansuescit aratro’. Auson-
ius imitated this use of plantaria at Epigr. 93.3, p. 346 P. ('sed
quod et elixo plantaria podice uellis’, = 'hairs of the podex’),
but neither metaphor would have been established in the spo¬
ken language. Various metaphors in which foliage or down (or
the like) suggests the pubic hair are found in Greek: x^ous
(Aristoph. Nub. 978), \6xii--n ( Lys. 800), PXtixw ( Lys. 89).

The original sense of pubes may have been 'pubic hair’.
Certainly that is the meaning which the word has at Cels.
7.19.1 'idque iam pube contegitur’. But it came to be used of
the parts covered by the pubic hair, viz. the external genitalia
(e.g. Cels. 2.3.1, 2.4.3, 2.7.12, 4.1.11). It is possible that this
secondary sense was a caique on -nfhi, but the semantic change
could have taken place independently within Latin itself. 3

Pecten, lit. 'comb’, came to mean 'pubic hair, pubes’ (Plin.
Nat. 29.26, Juv. 6.370), probably as a caique on KTets. Pecten
does not retain this sense in the Romance languages, but the

1 See FEW I, p. 669, REW 1432.

2 For further details, see A. Zauner, RF 14 (1903), pp. 410ff.

3 See Adams, 'Anatomical terminology”, n. 6.

Mentula and its Synonyms 77

diminutive *pectiniculus means 'pubic hair’ in Ibero-romance
(Sp. pendejo, Pg. pentelho). 1

6. Attitudes to the male genitalia

More than 120 designations of the penis have been discussed
above, though not all are genuine, and some can denote the
sexual organs of both males and females. In this figure no
account is taken of the numerous different adjectival combi¬
nations with nouns of extreme generality such as locus, mem-
brum and pars ; membrum, for example, is counted only once.
In the recorded language there are considerably more words
for 'penis’ than for 'female pudenda’. This disproportion must
be due to the greater freedom with which the male organ was
spoken about by some writers (Catullus, for example, often
mentions the mentula, but cunnus occurs only at 97.8, and the
part belongs to a mule; gremium at 67.30 and infima inguinum
pars at 60.2 are the only certain substitutes for the word; on
olla at 94.2, see p. 29), and in particular to the greater readi¬
ness of comic writers to make jokes about it. In Plautus, for
example, most of the punning allusions to sexual organs con¬
cern the penis, and in the fragments of Atellane farce (which
admittedly may be unrepresentative) there are various meta¬
phorical designations for the penis obviously used for comic
effect ( coleatam cuspidem, ramus, terminus, tutulatam truam),
but no comparable metaphor for the cunnus.

It is indeed possible to see in Latin writers a difference of
attitude to the organs of the respective sexes. Roman modesty
or 'repression’ was not exactly comparable with that of today.
The open display of representations of the phallus, for apotro-
paic and other purposes, in houses, streets and gardens, as
well as in various special processions and ceremonies, seems
to have rendered the male organ less shameful than the fe¬
male. In Latin writers the mentula is not treated as exciting
disgust, so much as fear, admiration and pride. It was a symbol
of power which might present a threat to an enemy, 2 although
that threat was usually manifested in linguistic aggression
(see below, pp. 124ff.).

1 REW 6331.

2 See Fehling, pp. 14ff.

78 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

There is a constant preoccupation in Latin writers with the
size of the male genitalia, a preoccupation which variously
reflects pride, admiration and envy. Grotesquely endowed in¬
dividuals might be the butt of jokes or cultivated as curiosities,
but the attitude to them was one of amusement or awe rather
than disgust. Admittedly admiration for the size of the men-
tula is usually ascribed to homosexuals or women, but male
writers rarely express comparable admiration for the cunnus
(contrast the epigram of Rufinus, AP. 5.36, a mock judgement
of Paris, in which the genitalia of three women are described
in lavish similes; for the attractions of the kixtOos in Aristo¬
phanes, see Ach. 792, 795f., Pax 891, 1352, Lys. 88, 1158,
Thesm. 289). 1

For the admiration inspired by a well-endowed man, and
the influence which his endowments conferred on him, it is
worth consulting the anecdote told by Eumolpus at Petron.
92.8-10. The emperor Commodus is said to have had a fa¬
vourite 'pene prominente ultra modum animalium’, whom he
enriched and appointed to a priesthood (HA., Comm. 10.9),
and Heliogabalus is alleged to have advanced to high honours
men noted for the size of their genitals (HA., Hel. 12.2). These
stories were no doubt fabrications, but they at least indicate
the obsessions of Roman voyeurs. A well-endowed character in
Martial is said to have evoked applause in the baths (9.33). It
is often assumed that the mentula is an object of concern,
admiration or pleasure to women (Petron. 108.10, Mart. 1.35.5,
7.14.9f., 9.40.5, Priap. 39.7f.). For a woman’s concern about
the weight of the mentula, see Mart. 10.55, and about its size,
Juv. 1.41, Priap. 80.3. So too the size of the mentula was of
interest to cinaedi (Mart. 6.54, Sen. N.Q. 1.16.3). Various
themes are combined in Mart. 11.63: the admiration provoked
by large genitalia (a certain Philomusus stares at Martial’s
tarn mutuniati pueri at the baths), and the threat which they
pose (the well-endowed youths are prone to pedicure onlook¬
ers). Further preoccupation with large genitalia is to be found
in Martial at 6.36 and 11.51. The sexual potency of a man was
supposed to be reflected in the mensura penis (e.g. Juv. 1.41,
Priap. 80.3).

1 However these passages in Greek are unusual. In Greek art there is only
a minimal interest in the female genitalia (see Dover, p. 135), compared with
an obsessive interest in the attractions of the male (Dover, pp. 125ff.).

79

Mentula and its Synonyms

The attitude to the cunnus was remarkably different. It
posed no threat, and did not arouse the same indulgent admir¬
ation. The cunnus which was laxus was an object of abuse and
shame (see CIL IV.10004, Mart. 11.21.1, Priap. 18.2, 46.5).
The cunnus might contain lutum (CIL IV.1516, Priap. 83.37),
and it could have various other repulsive characteristics (note
Mart. 7.18 on the poppysmata of a cunnus ; on the canus cun¬
nus, see Mart. 2.34.3, 9.37.7, and for an osseus cunnus, see
Mart. 3.93.13). Excessive size of the clitoris also provoked
abuse ( CIL IV.10004, Mart. 1.90.8, Priap. 12.14).

Chapter Three

Designations of the Female
Genitalia

In this chapter I discuss the designations of the female sexual
organs and of their parts in Latin. Words for 'womb’ are in¬
cluded, partly because the chronological and stylistic varia¬
tions within the semantic field are of some interest, and partly
because there is a degree of overlap between terms for the
uterus and those for the vagina. Metaphorical designations in
particular can often be interpreted as denoting either or both
organs indifferently. I shall have little to say here about those
terms for the female organs which could also indicate the male
parts; such blanket euphemisms I have dealt with earlier.

1. Cunnus

Cunnus was the basic obscenity for the female pudenda. At
Priap. 29 it is put on a par with mentula (line 5). The only
reference to the word at Cic. Fam. 9.22 is concealed beneath
the cacemphaton cum nos (§2); cf. Orat. 154 '. . . cum autem
nobis non dicitur, sed nobiscum? quia si ita diceretur, obscen-
ius concurrerent litterae, ut etiam modo, nisi autem interpo-
suissem, concurrissent’. At CE 1810 it is by implication
classified as 'plain Latin’ (cf. Priap. 3.9f. 'latine / dicere’): 'hie
ego me memini quendam futuisse puellam. / cunno non dico
curiose’. Buecheler quotes Quint. 8.1.2 'multos . .. inuenias
quos curiose potius loqui dixeris quam latine’; the writer seems
to have meant 'I mention the cunnus’ (or 'I call her a cunnus’),
'using plain Latin’ ( cunno = cunnuml). See also Soran. Lat.
(Mustio) p. 9.4 'intus autem est spatiosissimus, foris uero an-

Designations of the Female Genitalia 81

gustus, in quo coitus uirorum et usus uenerius efficitur. quern
uulgo connum appellant’. Cunnus is probably related to the
Greek primary obscenity kwOos , 1 but a connection with cutis
(< *cut-nos ?) 2 is uncertain. 3

The tone of cunnus, like that of other basic obscenities, was
not uniform. Such words occur in the speech of all classes
when the speaker wishes to create an impact by using a word
which has a strong taboo character. Hence they are not unu¬
sual in abusive and derogatory utterances (e.g. Catull. 97.8,
Mart. 10.90.1). Cunnus was no doubt particularly offensive
when used pars pro toto of male pathics ( CIL IV.10078). On
the other hand we have suggested that obscenities can occa¬
sionally be used neutrally as voces propriae in circumstances
in which taboos do not operate, as between lovers or intimates.
In the defixio Audollent 135B cunnus is listed, without an
inherently offensive implication, as one of a number of voces
propriae for parts of the body: 6 ’. . . crus os pedes fronte[m] /
un[gue]s di[g]itos uent[r]e / umlicu[m] cunu[m] / ulua[m]. . .’.

Cunnus occurs mainly in graffiti and epigram. In the pub¬
lished inscriptions from Pompeii and Herculaneum I have
noted 35 examples (11 in the supplementary volumes to CIL
IV). Horace uses the word 3 times early in the first book of
Sermones (1.2.36,1.2.70,1.3.107), but thereafter it is not found
in satire. It occurs once in Catullus, in an elegiac epigram
(97.8), 31 times in Martial (I include 4 examples of the com¬
pound cunnilingus), and 6 times in the Corpus Priapeorum
(22.2, 29.5, 39.8, 46.10, 68.9, 28; cf. 78.2 cunnilinge). The
phraseology of epigram, as we have seen, often recalls that of
obscene graffiti. With the vocative at Mart. 7.35.8 ('secre-
tusque tua, cunne, lauaris aqua?’; cf. 11.61.9) can be compared
CIL IV.3932 'cunne superbe’. Cunnurn lingere at Mart. 1.77.6,
2.84.3 was a formula of graffiti (e.g. CIL IV.2400, 4304), and
no doubt of the coarsest form of sexual abuse.

1 See Chantraine, II, p. 603.

2 See Pokomy, I, p. 952.

3 But for cutis with a sexual implication (of a different kind), see Cato Orat.
frg. 60, Gell. 13.8.5, Paul. Fest. p. 98, and below, p. 147.

82

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary
2. Metaphors

(i) Animal metaphors

More metaphors of this type for the male parts than for the
female are recorded, but a chance remark of Varro’s serves as
a warning against the assumption that recorded Latin does
justice to the variety of the sexual language. According to
Varro, porcus was a nursery word used by women, especially
nurses, of the pudenda of girls: Rust. 2.4.10 'nam et nostrae
mulieres, maxime nutrices, naturam qua feminae sunt, in uir-
ginibus appellant porcum, et Graecae choeron, significantes
esse dignum insigne nuptiarum’. The image has parallels in
Greek, as Varro notes (cf. xoipos at Aristoph. Ach. 781, Thesm.
538, Nicarchus, AT. 11.329.2, xotpCStov at Aristoph. Vesp. 573;
cf. Hesych, s.v. 8€X<j>dKtov xoipiSiov. ovtws cXeyov Kai to yuvaiK-
eiov). Varro’s remark provides a glimpse of the private
language of the nursery, about which we know little. Never¬
theless, there is some indirect evidence for the existence of
this use of porcus} The derivative porcellana survives in Rom¬
ance (Fr. porcelaine. It. porcellana) as a designation for a type
of shell which had the shape of the female external pudenda
(the shell was called ueneria by Plin. Nat. 9.103, 32.151).

Only one other metaphor of this type is attested in Latin,
and that is a loan-word introduced by JuvenaK?) and appar¬
ently used in a derived sense (of the mouth of a fellator which
is by implication likened to the cunnus ): 6.06 'et uasa iubent
frangenda lauari / cum colocyntha bibit uel cum barbata
chelidon’. 2 For xeXcSwv see Aristoph. Lys. 770, Suda s.v. Xeye-
tou. x^Xifiwv Kai tuv ‘yuvai.Kwv to pdpiov.

On the use of leo at Mart. 10.90.10, see p. 34.

(ii) 'Fields’ and the like

The frequency (in Latin and other languages) of the metaphor
of the field, garden, meadow, etc. applied to the female pud-

1 See J. Andr4, Latomus 15 (1956), pp. 299f.

a On barbata chelidon, see Housman, Classical Papers, p. 482. For the female
parte as 'bearded’, see Mart. 10.90.10, Priap. 12.13f. Nevertheless some doubt
remains about the interpretation of chelidon. For some scepticism, see Court¬
ney, p. 306. For another bird metaphor in Greek, see aT)6ovCs at Archil. 263
West (Heysch. s.o.), and M.L. West, Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus
(Berlin-New York, 1974), p. 138.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 83

enda reflects in part the external appearance of the organ, and
in part the association felt between the fertility of the field
and that of females. The metaphor complements the verbal
metaphors of sowing and ploughing used of the male role in
sexual intercourse. Nominal metaphors of the type in question
were readily transferable to the (male) anus. 1

Eugium, one of the few loan-words for the male or female
genitalia in Latin (< eiryetov), can be classified as an agri¬
cultural image (cf. eiryeios, 'having good soil, fertile’). Eugium
is restricted to a few texts in which vulgarisms were admitted:
Lucil. 940 'sine podice Hymnis, <si> sine eugio’, Laber. 25 'an
concupiuisti eugium scindere’, 139 'quae deleritas uos sub pol-
lictoris facit / <aduentum> cum cano eugio puellitari
<turpiter>’; 2 cf. Non. p. 153 L. 'eugium media pars inter na-
turalia muliebria’. The primary sense of the word has been
taken to be 'hymen’, 3 perhaps because of its juxtaposition with
scindere in Lucilius. But its etymology and the antithesis with
podex in Lucilius make it certain enough that it was equiv¬
alent to cunnus. Scindo was not a technical term for the break¬
ing of the hymen, but a metaphorical substitute for futuo or
pedico (see p. 150). eoyctov is not recorded in Greek; hence the
word must have entered Latin as a vulgar borrowing. Its gen¬
eric restriction, and the fact that the passage of Lucilius man¬
ifestly has to do with prostitution, suggest that it would first
have been heard in brothels in the mouths of Greek prostitutes
(cf. strutheum, p. 32, calo, p. 173). 4

It is an indication of the special character of the Latin of
Lucilius that no other satirist uses the word. It is also of note
that in this respect Lucilian usage can be compared with that
of mime. The sexual vocabulary of both farce and mime was
more vulgar and obscene than that of the later satirists (Per-
sius, Juvenal). It is possible that Lucilius anticipated Horace
(in the first book of the Sermones ) in admitting basic
obscenities.

Both Lucretius (4.1272 'eicit enim sulcum recta regione
uiaque / uomeris’) and Virgil (Georg. 3.136 'nimio ne luxu
obtunsior usus / sit genitali aruo et sulcos oblimet inertis’)

1 See Adams, Cuius, pp. 245ff. and Chapter IV.

3 On the text here, see M. Zic&ri, Hermes 91 (1963), p. 125.

3 See Pierrugues, p. 197.

4 See Zic&ri, loc.cit.

84 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

used sulcus of the female pudenda in conjunction with the
metaphors of sowing and ploughing. Clearly the word had an
inoffensive tone. Later it was picked up by the author of Anth.
Lat. 712 (17f. 'arentque sulcos molles aruo Venerio / thyr-
sumque pangant hortulo Cupidinis’). Aruum, which appears
in two of the above passages, must also have had a literary
flavour, to judge by its distribution (Lucr. 4.1107, Tert. Anim.
27, Ambros. Exp. Luc. 1.44. A, Aug. Ciu. 14.23; cf. the adjective
aruos at Plaut. True. 149 'non aruos hie, sed pascuost ager’:
'this is not arable land but pasture land’; again the metaphor
of ploughing is used in conjunction with the nominal meta¬
phor, as becomes explicit in the next line).

Ager implies the cunnus at Plaut. True. 149 above. The
closest parallels to this usage are furnished by the use of ager
and agellus as designations of the anus by Martial (9.21. If., in
a double entendre, 12.16.3; cf. Juv. 9.45). But there can be
little doubt that in suggestive contexts ager would readily
have been employed in reference to the cunnus.

Plautus has some similar words as ad hoc metaphors for the
part: Asin. 874 'fundum alienum arat, incultum familiarem
deserit’, Cas. 922 'ilium saltum uideo opsaeptum’, Cure. 56
'pandit saltum sauiis’, True. 148 'uolo habere aratiunculam
pro copia hie apud uos’. Fundus, saltus and aratiuncula are
not used elsewhere in this way, but such symbolism was so
widely recognised that metaphors could obviously be coined
freely.

In Greek k^tto*; is sometimes equivalent to kixxGos (e.g. D.L.
2.116). 1 Hortus is not so used in Latin (note however hortus =
cuius at Priap. 5.4; for the semantic change, see (perhaps)
pratum = cuius at Priap. 52.9, 2 and cf. Xeip-iov = kw0o<; at Eur.
Cycl. 171), but hortulus (a conjecture for horto S) has the same
sense as cunnus at Anth. Lat. 712.18, quoted above. It was no
doubt a caique on K-rj-Tros.

In later Medieval Latin, particularly that of the twelfth
century from France, metaphors of our type continued to be
used and also coined: note Matthew of Vendome, Milo 68 d
'quo fodiatur ager non habet, uxor habet’ (cf. anon., Babio 386
'incultus non erit eius ager’), 184 'falce metit, nullo uomere
tangit humurri {falce and uomere are also double entendres),

1 Sec Taillardat, p. 77.

2 See Housman, Classical Papers, pp. 1176f.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 85

Lehmann no. 14, p. 229 'misisti falcem in messem alienam’ (on
the Biblical parody, see p. 24).

(iii) Caves

The identification of the cunnus (or rectum) with a cave is an
obvious enough image. It is exploited at length in the Priapic
poem numbered 83: note 28 'inter atra cuius inguina / latet
iacente pantice abditus specus’, 35 'triplexque quadruplexque
compleas specum’. For specus see further Diom., GL 1.512.28
'Priapeum, quo Vergilius in prolusionibus suis usus fuit, tale
est, "incidi patulum in specum procumbente Priapo” ’ (= cun¬
nus or cuius?), Auson. Cent. Nupt. 113, p. 216 P. 'hie specus
horrendum’ (a Virgilian phrase). Antrum is attested only in
the sense 'anus’ (Auson. Epigr. 106.9, p. 351 P., Fulgent,
p. 38.25 Helm). For comparable metaphors, see Auson. Epigr.
79.7, p. 341 P. 'deglubit, fellat, molitur per utramque cauer-
nam’ (= cunnus + cuius), 1 Cent. Nupt. 119, p. 217 P. 'insonuere
cauae gemitumque dedere cauemae’. Cauerna (of various bod¬
ily parts, including that here) achieved some currency in scien¬
tific prose. 2

(iv) Ditches, pits and the like

The symbolism of the ditch {fossa) is implicit in Verrius (?)
Flaccus’ argument that, since it was permissible to clean old
ditches but not new on festal days, it was more appropriate
that widows should marry on such days than virgins: see Ma-
crob. Sat. 1.15.21 'sed Verrium Flaccum iuris pontificii peri-
ti8simum dicere solitum refert Varro, quia feriis tergere
ueteres fossas liceret, nouas facere ius non esset, ideo magis
uiduis quam uirginibus idoneas esse ferias ad nubendum’. The
type of ditch which Flaccus had in mind was perhaps a bound¬
ary marker; hence the image may be drawn from the same
sphere as Pomponius’ terminus. For fossa in this sense, see
Grom. pp. 102.17, 111.19 Thulin; for some of the religious
observances associated with such fossae, see p. 105.10ff. Later
fossa was used metaphorically by the author of the Corpus
Priapeorum: 46.9 'erucarum opus est decern maniplis, / fossas

1 See R. Penella, Hermes 104 (1976), pp. 118ff.

2 See TLL DI.646.41ff.

86 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

inguinis ut teram’ (for the genitive inguinis, see Mart. 6.73.6);
cf. Priap. 83.32 'uoret profunda fossa lubricum caput’ (for fossa
= cuius, see Juv. 2.10, where the word is used pars pro toto of
a cinaedus). It is not unlikely that fossa (= cunnus or cuius)
was in use in the colloquial language, especially given that
the related fodio could be employed of the male role in sexual
intercourse (see p. 151). But scrobis at Amob. Nat. 4.7 ('uir-
ginalem scrobem effodientibus maritis’) was probably an ad
hoc metaphor.

The applicability of words for 'hole, pit’ and the like to the
vagina is illustrated by Martial’s joke at 11.21.Ilf. ('hanc in
piscina dicor futuisse marina: / nescio; piscinam me futuisse
puto’), where the laxus cunnus of Lydia is identified with a
piscina. A similar coinage by Martial is barathrum at 3.81.1
'quid cum femineo tibi, Baetice Galle, barathro?’. 1 For a
Medieval coinage, see anon. Lidia 111 'pruritum scit queque
suum sudatque lacuna / omnibus’. Tertullian’s fouea (with
genitalis) (Anim . 19) refers to the womb.

(v) Household terminology

We have seen that household terminology provides metaphors
for the male parts. The symbolism of the hearth (= 'external
female pudenda’?) and oven (= 'vagina / womb’) was recog¬
nised by Artemidorus, 2.10, p. 116.21 f. Pack eoi«e yap Kal ti
ccrrCa Kai 6 K\i(Javos yuvaud 8ta to SexccrOat Tot trpbs tov pCov
eoxpT)crra. For the hearth, see also Aristoph. Eq. 1286 kvkwv
too; ecrxdpas. Apuleius made use of such imagery in a double
entendre at Met. 2.7 'discede . . . miselle, quam procul a meo
foculo discede’. In the corresponding passage in ps.-Luc. Asinus
(6) no equivalent to foculus is found, but there is one notable
correspondence between the two passages. In the Greek story
Palaestra has a pot (xvrpa), and the motions of her buttocks
as she handles it excite Lucius, who comments: tbs eupbOpcos
. . . T-qv TRryqv rq xbTpqi bpob (TV|Airepi<l>€peis Kai KXCvets (kivcis
J acobs). The x^rpa has the secondary sense 'pudenda’ (cf. Eu-
pol. frg. 52.2 Kock Xo7ra8o)v Tabs ap-Ptovas, = Ta x 6 *-^ twv
aiSoiwv? (Meineke)). In Apuleius’ version it is an olla (or ol-

1 The argument of Henderson, The Maculate Muse (see above, p. 1, n. 2)
p. 139 that fldpaBpov was in use with this sense in Greek is unconvincing, on
the evidence offered.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 87

lula) which stands for the female parts (cf. CGL 11.138.26 'olla
Xinpa’): 'quam pulchre quamque festiue . . . ollulam istam cum
natibus intorques’; cf. ibid, 'nam si te uel modice meus igni-
culus afflauerit, ureris intime nec ullus extinguet ardorem
tuum nisi ego, quae dulce condiens et ollam et lectulum suaue
quatere noui’. On the use of olla in a proverb at Catull. 94.2,
see p. 29.

I mention finally a double meaning given to ara at Priap.
73.4: 'quae tamen exanimis nunc est et inutile lignum, / utilis
haec, aram si dederitis, erit’. Ara was a generic term indicating
any type of altar; the author need not have had in mind a
domestic altar. Since the altar could be a raised platform, ara
here may be intended to suggest the external pudenda,
whether the mons veneris, labia or clitoris. It would certainly
have been coined off-the-cuff, but the author may have recalled
the use of eo^apa at Aristoph. Eq. 1286, quoted above (cf.
schol. Tot twv yuvaiKeuDv ou’Souov). Ara and ecrx^pu

overlapped in meaning.

In most of the above metaphors it would have been not only
the shape of the object which was suggestive, but also its heat
(a theme on which Apuleius elaborates). For the 'fiery’ char¬
acter of the female parts, see also Auson. Cent. Nupt. Ill, p.
216 P. 'est in secessu, tenuis quo semita ducit, / ignea rima
micans: exhalat opaca mephitim’; cf. CIL IV.1830 add. p. 212
'futuitur cunnus [piljossus multo melius [qu]am glaber: /
e[ad]em continet uaporem . . .’.

(vi) Containers

Some of the metaphors above could be included in this section;
here I deal with those containers which are not necessarily
kitchen utensils. The metaphor of the bag or container can be
employed to designate the womb as well as the vagina; indeed
it is not always possible to be sure which of these parts a
writer had in mind.

In Greek note Aristoph. Lys. 824 aaKotvSpos, Hesych. s.v.
o-dKotv to Tfis yuvaiKos; cf. Eng. bag, old bag, which may orig¬
inally have been used pars pro toto. Lucilius uses bulga
('leather bag 1 : see Fest. p. 31 'bulgas Galli sacculos scorteos
appellant’) of the womb at 623 'ita uti quisque nostrum e bulga
est matris in lucem editus’. There is no context at 73 ('in
bulgam penetrare pilosam’), but he may have been describing

88 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

a sexual act; for a possible example of pilosus referring to the
female pudenda, see CIL IV.1830 add. p. 212, quoted above.
Lucilius no doubt coined the metaphorical use of bulga himself.
Tertullian is the only other writer who uses the word in a
similar anatomical sense (Nat. 1.10.36 'omitto quae bulgae aut
sacrilegae gulae uidebantur. . .’ (= 'belly’ > 'gluttony’?)).

In his note on Virg. Georg. 3.136 Servius glosses Virgil’s
aruum with folliculus, by which he meant the womb: 'genitali
aruo pro muliebri folliculo, quem uuluam uocant, ut etiam
Plinius docet: nam ante folliculus dicebatur’. He alludes here
to Plin. Nat. 11.209 ('quod alio nomine locos appellant, hoc in
reliquis animalibus uoluam’), but it is not clear what the au¬
thority for the last remark is. In medical Latin folliculus is
sometimes used of the membrane which encloses the foetus
(Gk. xdpiov) (e.g. Cael. Aurel. Gyn. p. 32.829 '(corion) nos etiam
folliculum appellamus, siue quod intra se fetum claudat, siue
quod acceptum contegat ac ministrat spiritum’, 1 Soran. Lat.
(Mustio) p. 23.22 'si uero folliculus diu non fuerit ruptus’), but
it never seems to have been a regular designation of the womb
itself (but see Fulgent, p. 150.23 Helm).

Vas ('vessel, container’) is used suggestively with the womb
in mind by Julius Valerius, p. 7.27 'quod enim signari uidisti
uirginal feminae, fidem rei uisae testatur. consignatio enim
tides est atque ueritas, ex quo praenosti, quod ilia conceperit;
nemo enim uas uacuum consignauerit’. Here he was following
ps.-Callisthenes fairly closely: 1.9.3, p. 9.10 Kroll ov8els yap
kcvov ayyeiov cr<}>payC£€i. Vasculum, like folliculus, was used in
the same sense as xdpiov in the medical language (e.g. Cael.
Aurel. Gyn. p. 32.822 'uocatur etiam hec membrana regio, et
uasculum, et secunda, et preruptio’; cf. Soran. Lat. (Mustio) p.
18.14).

The malapropism uter ('bladder’) for uterus in late Latin
(Mul. Chir. 224 'similiter et tiniolae in utri, quae pediculi ab
alis appellantur’, CGL 111.248.34'yaorfip uter’) may be attribu¬
ted to a popular tendency to look upon the womb as resembling
a bladder. Pliny associates uterus with utriculus, 'little blad-

1 The Gynaecia of Caelius Aurelianus (translated from a work by Soranus)
is here quoted by page and line numbers from the edition by M. F. Drabkin
and I. E. Drabkin, Caelius Aurelianus, Gynaecia (Baltimore, 1951). For further
examples of folliculus, see their index, p. 129 (where the sense is given as
'afterbirth’).

Designations of the Female Genitalia 89

der’, at Nat. 11.209: 'feminis eadem omnia praeterque uesicae
iunctus utriculus, unde dictus uterus’. Cf. Isid. Etym. 11.1.135.

See below, p. 90 on sinus.

(vii) Doors and paths

The external female pudenda may be likened to a door, and
the vagina to a path or passage. The symbolism of the door is
implicit in Isidore’s remarks at Etym. 8.11.69 ('Iunonem dicunt
quasi ianonem, id est ianuam, pro purgationibus feminarum,
eo quod quasi portas matrum natorum pandat, et nubentum
maritis’) and 11.1.137 ('uulua uocata quasi ualua, id est ianua
uentris, uel quod semen recipiat, uel quod ex ea foetus proce-
dat’). For such metaphors in Greek, see Aristoph. Vesp. 768
Oupot, Lys. 250 uuXti, Antiphilus, AJP. 9.415.6 oavCSes, Eratos¬
thenes, AT. 5.242.3ff. irvXewv, -npoOupov. Most examples of the
metaphor in Latin refer to the anus (e.g. Catull. 15.18, Pers.
4.36; cf. Priap. 52.5), but that must be a matter of chance. Note
Auson. Cent. Nupt. 112, p. 216 P. 'nulli fas casto sceleratum
insistere limen’ (= 'entrance to the vagina’). For the metaphor
of the path, see Serv. on Virg. Georg. 3.136 ' "sulcos oblimet”
claudat meatus’, Auson. Cent. Nupt. llOf. p. 216 P. 'est in
secessu, tenuis quo semita ducit, / ignea rima micans’, 115
'hue iuuenes nota fertur regione uiarum’, 126, p. 217 'itque
reditque uiam’ (for the anus or rectum described in such terms
see Amob. Nat. 2.16, Isid. Etym. 11.1.105). In Greek note the
double entendre in oTtvw-rreiov at Ach. Tat. 8.9.3.

(viii) Nauis

The sense 'pudenda muliebria’ is sometimes ascribed to nauis
at Plaut. Men. 401f. and Rud. 354, 1 but there are no grounds
for this view. 2 However nauis was used metaphorically of the
womb in a joke by Julia quoted at Macrob. Sat. 2.5.9 (discussed
below, p. 167). A word denoting any hollow object or container
(in this case the hollow hull of the ship) can readily be used
metaphorically of the womb or vagina.

1 See Pierrugues, s.v., Lewis and Short, s.v., Grassmann, p. 28.

J See Adams, Cuius, pp. 251f. (with examples of nauis = 'rump of chicken’).

90 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(ix) Topographical imagery

At Anth. Lat. 382.2 ('post mille complexus, post dulcia sauia
penem / confiniis laterum retortum suscipe, posco’; cf. 253.124
'non omnis resupina iacet, sed corpore flexo / molliter et la¬
terum qua se confinia iungunf) the 'common boundary’ of the
latera (of a female) is obviously the cunnus. Similar topograph¬
ical imagery can be seen in Tertullian’s fines, lit. 'extremities,
frontiers’, = 'genitalia’ at Anim. 38.2: 'fines suos ad instar
ficulneae contagionis prurigine accingit’. 1 Cf. terminus (Pom¬
pon. 126), = 'boundary marker’, > 'penis’.

3. Some euphemisms

(i) Sinus (muliebris)

Sinus is used of the vagina or womb by Tibullus, 1.8.36:
'teneros consent usque sinus’; cf. Ovid Fast. 5.256 'tangitur et
tacto concipit ilia sinu’. As an anatomical (or near-anatomical)
term sinus strictly denoted the space between the chest and
the arms held in front of the chest as if to clasp an object (=
'bosom’). It is not from this usage that the above anatomical
examples could be derived, but from its use in application to
any hollow space or cavity.

Tibullus’ expression anticipates, but is unconnected with, a
later medical use of sinus (+ muliebris, femininus, et sim.), of
the vagina. The medical usage was introduced as a caique on
yuvaiKcios koXttos, which was in use in later medical Greek.
For the sense of yuvotiKeios koXttos see Rufus, Onom. 196 eixa
to koiXwjjwx to e4>e£f|s, yuvotiKeios koXttos, kcu a&oiov to avp/irav
ot)v to is tm<|>av4ariv (making a distinction between yuvatKeios
koXttos, 'vagina’, and the atSoiov in general); contrast Soran.
p. 181.24f. Rose, where ywoaxeios koXttos is equated with yu-
vouKtiov a&oiov: to 5e yuvaiKeiov a£8oiov Koti koXttos <iv6pux<rroii
yuvatKeios. Soranus uses yuvoiiKetos koXttos constantly. The
caique sinus muliebris is found often in his translators Caelius

1 This passage has been elucidated by J. H. Waszink, Quinti Septimi Florentis
Tertulliani De Anima (Amsterdam, 1947), pp. 436f. I should not be inclined,
however, to relate Apul. Met. 2.16 inguinum fine to this usage; fine is 'pre¬
positional’, = 'as far as’.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 91

Aurelianus and Soran. Lat. (Mustio). 1 The use of the expression
as a translation can be seen at (e.g.) Cael. Gyn. p. 4.79f. 'toto
sinu muliebri’ = Soran. p. 176.17f. Rose oktp T<p -ywaiKeup . . .
k6X-tt<p (cf. Cael. Gyn. p. 7.157 = Soran. p. 182.6f., Cael. Gyn.
p. 9.215 = Soran. p. 187.23), Cass. Fel. 78, p. 191.3 'in sinum
mulieris infundes, quem Graeci colpon appellant’. For the
sense of sinus muliebris, see also Soran. Lat. (Mustio) p. 9.3
'(sinus muliebris) quem uulgo connum appellant’. The form of
the expression is not invariable. Sometimes sinus is used with¬
out muliebris or an equivalent (Cael. Gyn. p. 114.1412), and
femininus is often substituted for muliebris by Caelius; 2 note
too Vindic. Epit. Alt. 32, p. 480.14 'quod Greci genicion colpon
uocant, hoc est feminum [sic] sinum’. For sinus mulieris see
the passage of Cassius Felix quoted above, and Mustio p. 8.15, 3
and for feminarum sinus see Cael. Chron. 5.71. A more strik¬
ing variant is that of Mustio p. 89.9 'inmissa manu sua obsetrix
omnes in sinum uuluae repellat’. It is impossible to tell
whether the author of Anth. Lat. 144.2 'uirgineos ardens pan-
dere fraude sinus’ was influenced by medical terminology, or
had in mind poetic usages of the type seen above.

Lactantius at Inst. 1.20.36 used the expression sinu pudendo
when he must have had the penis in mind: 'Tutinus, in cuius
sinu pudendo nubentes praesident’ (for the implication, see
Aug. Ciu. 6.9 'super cuius inmanissimum et turpissimum fas-
cinum sedere noua nupta iubebatur’). But it would be a mis¬
take to say that he has employed sinus = 'penis’. He has
spoken loosely of the bride sitting in the god’s 'lap’ or 'bosom’
to avoid anatomical exactitude.

(ii) Adjoining parts

I have shown earlier that the sexual organs may be referred
to by the name of a nearby part of no sexual significance
(pp. 47ff.). A use of uesica (lit. 'bladder’) at Juv. 1.39 ('in cae¬
lum quos euehit optima summi / nunc uia processus, uetulae

1 For Caelius Aurelianus, see the edition of Drabkin and Drabkin (cited
above, p. 88 n. 1), index, p. 134; for Mustio, see, e.g. pp. 8.16, 14.19, 96.4,
96.19, 97.2f., 107.3 Rose. Examples are quoted by J. Medert, Quaestiones
criticae et grammaticae ad Gynaecia Mustionis pertinentes (Giessen, 1911),
pp. 25, 75, 78.

2 See the edition of Drabkin and Drabkin, index, p. 134.

3 On the text here see Medert, p. 25.

92 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

uesica beatae’) seems to be of the same type: Juvenal may
deliberately have failed to make a distinction between the
bladder / urethra and the vagina (for the position of the uesica
note Cels. 4.1.11 'in feminis (uesica) super genitale earum sita
est’). There is a superficially similar example at 6.64 ('Ledam
molli saltante Bathyllo / Tuccia uesicae non imperat’), but Ju¬
venal was perhaps coarsely suggesting that the referent was
becoming uda with desire. 1 Just as male semen could be called
urina (Juv. 11.170; cf. the use of mingo, meio and their de¬
rivatives of ejaculation, p. 142), so female secretions (con¬
sidered in antiquity to be a form of semen) might be vulgarly
looked upon in the same light.

There is a curious use of rene (abl. sing., formed from the
usual plural renes, 'kidneys’; renis / ren are not usual as nom¬
inative singular forms) at Auson. Epigr. 34.2, p. 324 P. 'utere
rene tuo: casta puella anus est’. The kidneys might have been
thought of by Ausonius as a seat of sexual desire (for the
sexual desire of the male located in the lumbi, see Schol. Pers.
1.20), but no reader could fail to take rene as a euphemism for
cunnus. In this case the 'neighbouring part’ might be thought
to be on the opposite side of the body to the sexual organ. Such
a usage is not without parallel, backus ('loins’) is used of the
penis by ps.-Luc. Asinus 9, 51, and lumbulus seems to refer to
the male sexual organs in the Testamentum Porcelli (p. 48).

Gremium is sometimes used of the uterus or vagina: e.g.
Catull. 67.30 'qui ipse sui gnati minxerit in gremium’ (cf. Ter.
Eun. 585, Stat. Theb. 1.234). 2 The word literally denoted the
lap. In this case a word for an adjacent area (as distinct from
an adjacent part of the body) was transferred to the genitalia.
The semantic change has a parallel in the transfer of sinus
('bosom’) to the adjacent chest (Tac. Hist. 3.10 'opposuit sinum
Antonius stricto ferro’; cf. Fr. sein).

Euphemisms of the type under discussion are quite common
in Biblical Latin, where they ultimately reflect Hebrew usage.
Jerome ( Epist. 22.11.2) attributes to umbilicus at Job 40.11
the sense 'female genitalia’, and he goes on to make some
observations on the phenomenon (lumbi and femur are given
as further examples): 'lob deo carus . . . audi quid de diabolo
suspicetur: "uirtus eius in lumbis et potestas eius in umbilico”.

1 For uda of a woman in a state of arousal, see Mart. 11.16.8, Juv. 10.321.

2 See further TLL VI.2.2322.36fif.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 93

honeste uiri mulierisque genitalia immutatis sunt appellata
nominibus’.

Apuleius’ coinage interfeminium ( Apol. 33; lit. 'the space
between the thighs’) can be mentioned here; 1 compare the cir¬
cumlocutions at Met. 10.24 'titione candenti inter media fem-
ina detruso crudelissime necauit’, 7.28 'ardentemque titionem
gerens mediis inguinibus obtrudit’ and 8.25 'nam si faciem
tuam mediis eius feminibus immiseris’. There is no question
here of the word for an adjacent body part being equated with
cunnus. But the sexual organ is named by reference to its
position in relation to another, non-sexual, part of the body.

(iii) 'Female parts’, etc.

There is a variety of designations for the female genitalia
comparable with designations such as uirilia, uirilitas, mem-
brum uirile for the male. Some of these are substantival, others
are adjective + noun combinations.

Muliebria is rare, but found in Tacitus: Ann. 14.60 'ex quibus
(ancillis) una instanti Tigellino castiora esse muliebria Oc-
tauiae respondit quam os eius’; 2 cf. Soran. Lat. (Mustio) p. 108.5
'haemorroides raro quidem in muliebribus inueniuntur’ (text
doubtful). Note too loci muliebres (loca muliebria) (Varro Ling.
5.15, Scrib. Larg. 156, Marc. Emp. 25.2, Soran. Lat. (Mustio)
pp. 67.18, 107.1), muliebre membrum (Auson. Epigr. 87.3, p.
344 P.), partes muliebres (Soran. Lat. (Mustio) pp. 50.11, 99.7).

Feminal was coined by Apuleius: Met. 2.17 'glabellum fem-
inal rosea palmula . . . obumbrans’. The adjective feminalis is
not attested elsewhere, 3 and hence feminal would have been

1 For anatomical terms deriving from prepositional expressions, see Sven-
nung, pp. 112ff.

2 This is one of the few references to the sexual organs in Tacitus (cf. genitalia
at Hist. 5.5).

3 H. D. Jocelyn points out to me that feminal is possibly a derivative of femur
(cf. interfeminium). Nevertheless there was a marked tendency for adjectives
of the base femin- to be applied (in various combinations) to the female parts.
For femininus combined with sinus, see p. 91; cf. ueretrum femininum at Cael.
Aurel. Gyn. p. 6.150, = Soran. p. 181.24f. Rose ywaiKtiov atSoiov; cf. Gyn.
pp. 67.123, 118.1522. Note too feminee partes at Cael. Aurel. Gyn. p. 33.855,
= Soran. p. 236.12 tow rris yuvaixos tottovs, and feminea natura at Jul. Obs.
51. Feminium (= femineum, substantival) appears in a Medieval medical text,
the Tractatus de cura omnium causarum matricis (Cod. Venddme 175 (s. XI)).
Note fol. 101 r, XXHII tit. 'mulier si in feminio uermes habuerit’ (see Henry
E. Sigerist, Bull. Hist. Med. 14 (1943), p. 106). This example was drawn to my
attention by Dr. K.-D. Fischer.

94 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

euphemistic because of its recherche quality. There is some
alternation between the endings -ale and -al in the neuter of
-alis adjectives, -al sometimes serves as the nominal ending,
-ale as the adjectival. The neuter nouns capital and cubital
stand in the same relationship to the adjectives capitalis, -e
and cubitalis, -e, as feminal to *feminalis, -e. Tribunate is
attested alongside tribunal (Quint. 1.6.17), and both penetrate
and penetral, and ceruicale and ceruical, are found.

Both uirginal and uirginale were used in Imperial and late
Latin. For uirginal see Jul. Val. p. 7.18, 25 (the Greek original
did not influence Valerius here: see ps.-Callisthenes 1.8.3, p.
9.9 Kroll (Jnxns), Prud. Peristeph. 14.8, CGL V.254.3 (?), and
for uirginale, see Phaedr. 4.16.12. The uirginal at Prud. Peri¬
steph. 14.8 belongs to a virgin, but uirginaUe) was also em¬
ployed even when the referent was not 'virginal’. It could be
classified as hyper-euphemistic, in that it is based on a refusal
by the user to contemplate that the sexual parts might have
been used for sexual purposes. In the Mulomedicina Chironis
another form of the word, uirginalis (sc. pars), is the standard
term for the pudenda of a mare. 1 At 761 uirginalis corresponds
to aiSoiov at Hipp. Berol. 14.11, CHG I, p. 84.6: 'oportebit
autem uirginalem eius manu tractare et ipsam uuluam’, =
ftei be KCIT& too at&oCov 4v8etvat rqv xtipa Kai napeivai ets tt|v
p.T|Tpav.

(iv) Specialisation

Euphemisms of this type tend to be capable of signifying both
the male and female parts. I have discussed these at length
earlier, and hence there is no need here to give more than a
few special examples.

Loci (loca ) with or without specification was from early Latin
used of the female parts: e.g. Cato Agr. 157.11 'et si mulier eo
lotio locos fouebit’, 2 Mul. Chir. 769 'ad loca imponito’; cf. Varro
Rust. 2.7.8 'contra ab locis equae nares equi tangunt’, Ovid

1 See Oder, index, s.v. uerginalis, where 17 examples are quoted.

1 Cato presumably had in mind here the external female pudenda. Loci could
also indicate the womb (Plin. Nat. 11.209; cf. 26.152, where the word is
probably used of the external surface of the womb, i.e. the lower belly). There
is nothing surprising in the application of such a vague word to two different
parts. In any case a lexical distinction is not always maintained between the
vagina and womb.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 95

Ars. 2.719 'cum loca reppereris, quae tangi femina gaudet’.
For the unusual meaning 'penis’, see Lucr. 4.1034,1045.

Some other general words or expressions applied to the fe¬
male genitalia are inferior pars (Cels. 4.27. ID) and infima pars
(Catull. 60.2). Viscera, a vague term for the internal organs,
was applicable to the female internal pudenda or to the anus
/ rectum (see p. 116). For the first sense see Ovid Am. 2.14.27
'uestra quid effoditis subiectis uiscera telis / et nondum natis
dira uenena datis?’, Priap. 66.4 'intra uiscera habere concu-
piscis (notam uirilem)’, Aug. Ciu. 14.26 'feminea uiscera’.
Similar euphemisms are found at Sen. Contr. 2.5.4 'uerberibus
corpus abrumpitur exprimiturque <sanguis> ipsis uitalibus’,
ps.-Theod. Prise. Addit. p. 343.5 'mulier supra dimissis uesti-
bus apparata sedeat, ut ipse uapor ad eius interiora perueniat’.

On naturale, see p. 60

4. Miscellaneous usages
(i) Rima and the like

According to Rufus ( Onom. 110; cf. Pollux 2.174) uxurp-a was
used of the opening of the vagina (rj tojit) too aiboCoo). The
existence of the term in the medical language (though it is not
elsewhere attested) is an indication that such designations are
not necessarily indecent. Nevertheless the comparable words
found in Latin had no place in learned prose. Juvenal’s des¬
cription of the external genitalia at 3.97 ('uacua et plana om¬
nia dicas / infra uentriculum et tenui distantia rima!) was
recalled by Ausonius when he wrote the Cento Nuptialis : 110f.,
p. 216 P. *i tenuis quo semita ducit, / ignea rima micans’. Note
too the pleonastic expression at Epigr. 87.6, p. 344 P. 'fissi
rima qua patet’. Fissa survived with this sense in Italian dia¬
lects (e.g. Sic. fissa). 1 For rima, see also CGL 11.174.49 'rima
pot-yds, pop.ii, yovaiKeCa 4nkn.<;’. It is impossible to determine the
status of rima, but it is not unlikely that Juvenal adopted the
usage off-the-cuff and was imitated by Ausonius.

Two examples of hiatus in Martial and the Corpus Priapeo-

1 See FEW in, p. 582.

96 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

rum refer specifically to a laxus cunnus : Mart. 3.72.5 'infinite
lacerum patet inguen hiatu’, Priap. 12.13 'qui tanto patet in-
decens hiatu’. That at Claud. Carm. Min. 43.7 ('spurcos auidae
lambit meretricis hiatus’) is more nearly equivalent to cunnus.
This nominal usage corresponds to the use of the verb hio in
reference to bodily orifices: Hor. Epod. 8.5 'hietque turpis inter
aridas natis / podex uelut crudae bouis’, Cels. 7.29.5 '(uolua)
hiante’. The offensive tone of hiatus is unmistakable: the laxus
cunnus was a common topic of obscene invective. In the pas¬
sages of Martial and the Priapea above, as at CIL IV. 10004
'Eupla laxa landicosa’, the defect is associated with an en¬
larged clitoris. 1

(ii) Longao and cuius

There is a good deal of interchange between words (particu¬
larly metaphors) for 'anus / rectum’ and those for 'vagina’ (see,
e.g., p. 84 on hortus/ K-rjiroi;, and p. 89 on the metaphor of the
door: see also Chapter IV). On the use of cunnus = cuius, see
p. 116; 2 conversely, cuius survived as an equivalent of cunnus
in some French dialects. 3 A parallel semantic change is perhaps
to be seen in the use of longao (strictly 'rectum’) of the vagina
at Vindic., Epit. Alt. 32, p. 480.18: 'huius ceruicis uel cornu in
tribus foraminibus porrigitur usque ad longaonem, in qua res
uenerias perficitur’. It is not clear what lies behind this usage,
but it is not impossible that an epitomator, faced with a corrupt
text of Vindicianus, misunderstood his meaning.

(iii) Spurium

According to Isidore, spurium was once a designation of the
female pudenda: Etym. 9.5.24 'quia muliebrem naturam uet-
eres spurium uocabant’. Plutarch ( Quaest. Rom. 103) reports
a theory that the adjective spurius derived from a Sabine word
(o-n-optov) for the female parts, which was allegedly applied to
illegitimate children as a term of abuse: \6kt4ov 84 Kat tov
eVepov Xoyov, eori 8’ dTO-rrarrepos- tovk; -yap 2ap(vovs <|)aorl to tt|s
yuvaiKos ou’8oiov dvopui£eiv cnropiov, ei0’ otov e<fruppC£ovTa<; ovtcd

1 See Jocelyn, LCM 5.7 (Jul. 1980), pp. 153f.

2 See also Adams, Cuius, pp. 262f.

3 See A. Zauner, RF 14 (1903), p. 522.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 97

iTpoa’a'yopevei.v tov €k •yvvat.Koq dydp.au Kai avcyyuou yeyevT|p.e-
vov. It seems certain that both writers were drawing on a
common source, probably Varro. If Varro did indeed provide
the information, it would be reasonable to suppose that spur-
ium had once, somewhere, had the sense in question. Emout
and Meillet (s.v. spurius) suggest that the word may have been
Etruscan in origin (cf. the Etruscan name Spurinna). If so, it
might once have been used by Etruscan prostitutes in Rome,
just as eugium seems to have been used by Greek prostitutes.

(iv) Coitus

The use of coitus in a concrete sense (= cunnus ) at Jer. Epist.
84.5.3 ('quod si dederimus, statim expetunt uuluam et coitum
et cetera, quae in uentre sunt et sub uentre. singula membra
negant et corpus, quod constat ex membris, dicunt resurgere’)
is similar to the concrete use of uenus (lit. 'sexual intercourse’*
> ’penis’) and a few other words (see p. 57).

5. Parts of the female genitalia

(i) Clitoris

The function of the part was well understood, and it is often
mentioned in connection with sexual acts. Tribades were
thought to employ it as a male might employ the mentula (see
Mart. 1.90.7f., Phaedr. 4.16.13). The clitoris that was exces¬
sively large provided a topic of abuse (see p. 79).

The vox propria was landica, a word which, at least in Clas¬
sical Latin, was so indecent that Cicero alludes to it only by
means of a cacemphaton at Fam. 9.22.2 ('hanc culpam maiorem
an illam dicam?’). Its currency in the vulgar language is shown
by CIL XI.6721.5 'peto [la]ndicam Fuluiae’ and CIL IV.10004
'Eupla laxa landicosa’ (this derivative is not attested else¬
where). It was also used by the author of the Corpus Priapeo-
rum, a work in which the basic obscenities are freely admitted:
78.5 'nunc misella landicae / uix posse iurat ambulare prae
fossis’. By contrast Juvenal, who alludes to the clitoris a few
times (see below), avoids landica. The sense of landica is es¬
tablished by the second inscription above, in which the woman

98 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

must surely be abused for the size of the part, 1 and by its use
in later medical Latin: Soran. Lat. (Mustio) p. 9.6 'quem uulgo
connum appellant, cuius foris labra graece pterigomata dicun-
tur, latine pinnacula dicta sunt, et a superiore parte descen-
dens in medio dicta est landica’; cf. Cael. Aurel. Gyn.
p. 113.1392 'quibusdam landicis horrida comitatur magnitudo
et feminas partium feditate confundit et, ut plerique memo-
rant, ipse adfecte tentigine uirorum similem appetentiam su-
munt et in uenerem coacte ueniunt’. Landica survived in Old
French ( landie ).

Nymfe, which Mustio uses at p. 106.3 ('turpitudinis symp¬
toms est grandis yos nymfe’; cf. landica , p. 106.1), was taken
over from Soranus (vupu}>T)). It would not have been in use in
Latin. Medical writers (particularly translators) had a habit
of carelessly introducing a Greek word from their source even
when there existed a native Latinism (cf. fisis, p. 61, and 6a/-
anus, p. 72). For vup,<J>T), and its synonym p.vpTov, see Rufus
Onom. 112. . . Totvra 8e Evpv4><i>v KOti Kp , qp,voi><; KotXei- oi 8c vuv
Ta p.cv ixupTOxeiXa, 'n-Tepirywp.aTa, to 8e p-vprov, wjp-4>T|v (see also
Pollux 2.174).

Various other designations, ad hoc metaphors and the like,
are recorded for the part in Latin. One such, nasus at Priap.
12.14 ('barbato macer eminente naso’), is an 'anatomical’ meta¬
phor of a type I have discussed above (p. 35). The usage reflects
the similarity which was observed between the clitoris and the
penis. For the use in application to the clitoris of a term more
normally applicable to the penis, see uenus at Mart. 1.90.8:
'inter se geminos audes committere cunnos / mentiturque
uirum prodigiosa uenus’.

Juvenal employed crista as an ad hoc metaphor at 6.422:
'callidus et cristae digitos inpressit aliptes / ac summum dom-
inae femur exclamare coegit’. Similarly for a derivative of
crista (cristatus ) used of part of the penis, see Maxim. Eleg.
5.98. For metaphors in Greek, see Hesych. s.v. KwOoKopwinq-
vopujvq (= Com. adesp. 1060 Kock), Nicarchus, AT. 11.329.2
8€ivt)v xotpos aKav0av lxei(?).

On uolua at Juv. 6.129, and ara at Priap. 73.4, see pp. 103,
87.

1 For the 'laxness’ of the cunnus (note laxa in the inscription) associated
with an enlarged clitoris, see above, p. 96.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 99

(ii) Labia

Orae is used a number of times by Celsus of the labia (e.g.
2.7.15 'oras naturalium’, 7.26.1C 'inter imas oras’, = 'labia
minora’; cf. 7.26.4, 7.28.1 twice). It may have been an attempt
to render the Greek Kp^jivoi, which is employed thus at Hipp.
hoc. Horn. 47, and is mentioned by Rufus as a term used by
Euryphon (Onom. 112, quoted above, p. 98; cf. Pollux 2.174).

According to Mustio, p. 9.4f. (quoted above, p. 98) the labia
(labra is the word which he uses, but it is not otherwise re¬
corded in this sense) were called pinnacula, 'little wings’. To
this passage corresponds Caelius, Gyn. p. 7.152ff. 'interior ergo
pars collo matricis connectitur, exterius uero fibris adnexa est
quas pinnas uocant feminini sinus’. Despite the use of dicta
sunt and uocant , neither writer was employing current Latin
terminology (cf. KaXtiTou at Soran. p. 183.17 Rose), as is clear
from the variant terms pinnacula and pinnae which were
allegedly in use. Both words are caiques on -irrepirYWfjLaTa, as
Mustio states. For this word in Soranus, see, e.g., pp. 182.2,
183.17 Rose. It is quoted from Galen (19.114) as well as Sor¬
anus, and is described by Rufus as a modem term (Onom. 112,
quoted above, p. 98; cf. Pollux 2.174). For pinnacula elsewhere
in Mustio, see, e.g., pp. 96.4,19,107.2. The same word is found
in Caelius at Gyn. p. 118.1527, but usually Caelius prefers
fibrae (at, e.g., Gyn. p. 114.1411 - 'nascitur thimus aliquando
in fibris’ - this word corresponds to pinnacula at Mustio p.
107.2: 'clauuli uero nascuntur et in pinnaculis et ...')} It is
impossible to tell whether fibrae had any currency. It is not
quoted from any other writer in this sense, 1 2 although Goetz
proposed to introduce it in two glosses (CGL V.456.45 'fibre
partes iecoris pecodis uenas sanguinum’; cf. V.500.62) by
changing sanguinum to inguinum. 3 But the conjecture is not
certain, and even if it were accepted inguinum need not necess¬
arily signify the female genitalia. There seems to have been
no standard word for the labia in Latin. Mustio’s labra was

1 For further examples of fibrae, see the index in the edition of Drabkin and
Drabkin, p. 129.

2 See TLL VLl.643.52ff., quoting only Cael. Aurel. Acut. 3.184.

3 See TLL, loc. cit.

100 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

influenced by x*(M (see Soran. p. 183.18 Rose; cf. Hipp. Mul.
1.40). 1

(iii) Womb

In the Republic uterus was in use as a designation for the
womb, alongside uenter and aluus, which, though they were
general in sense (= 'belly'), were readily applicable to this part
(cf. yatrrrip and visits in Greek). Indeed uterus itself may orig¬
inally have meant 'belly'. 2 It has this meaning at (e.g.) Lucil.
541, Cels. 1. introd. 42, 3.21.14, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 7.14.5, 7.21.1. But
whereas aluus and uenter continued to have a wide range of
uses, uterus from an early date showed a strong tendency to
be specialised. Plautus uses it 8 times in the sense 'womb' (I
include in these figures the examples at Stick. 163, 387), and
there are 4 other examples with this meaning in comic frag¬
ments (Turp. 179, Afran. 337, 345; cf. Caec. 94 uter). The word
has only this sense in Cicero (Nat. 2.128) and Varro (Rust.
2.2.14). Nevertheless, though uterus may have been the vox
propria, Republican writers were as likely to use aluus or
uenter (on the difference between these two, see below): note,
e.g. Plaut. Cure. 221, Stick. 159, Lucr. 5.225, Cic. Cluent. 34,
Pis. frg. 14, Diu. 1.39, Varro Rust. 2.8.6, 3.12.4. Vterus may
have been developing a rather formal tone by the early Em¬
pire. It is common enough in epic (Virg. Aen. 8 times, Ovid
Met. 16, Statius 11, Lucan 3, Silius 2, Valerius Flaccus 2), but
unusual in satire (Lucil. 541, Juv. 6.599, 10.309). Certainly it
must eventually have fallen out of everyday use, since it leaves
no trace in the Romance languages.

I have elsewhere shown 3 that by the early Empire aluus (in
all its senses) had acquired a recherche tone, whereas uenter
remained in everyday use. It is not surprising to find uenter

1 It is perhaps worth mentioning here the absurd notion of Judith P. Hallett

(Hermes 105 (1977), pp. 252f.) that os and labra at Mart. 1.83.1. Cos et labra
tibi lingit, Manneia, catellus: / non miror, merdas si libet esse cani’) indicate
parts of the female pudenda. One cannot legitimately argue that Martial
based a pun on an obscure medical caique which is only attested in a very
late translation. There are various caiques for unseen parts of the female
genitalia which seem to have been totally unknown in the ordinary language
(see below, p. 108).

3 Cf. the possible cognates Skt. uddram = 'belly’, Gk. o5«pos=yaoT-np (He-
sych.). See Emout and Meillet, s.v.

3 See Adams, 'Anatomical terminology’, p. 54.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 101

used of the womb in works of colloquial or vulgar flavour (e.g.
Rustius Barbarus, CPL 304.9 1 'habio .. . / fratrem gemellum
qui de unum / uentrem exiut’, Mul. Chir. 745, 765), and its
reflexes in Romance can bear this sense. 2 But it was never fully
specialised, and it came to be outnumbered (in our sense) by
more specific terms.

Vulua came into rivalry with uterus as the specialised word
for the womb in the early Empire. According to Pliny (Nat.
11.209), uulua was the term for an animal’s matrix: 'feminis
eadem omnia praeterque uesicae iunctus utriculus, unde dic-
tus uterus, quod alio nomine locos appellant, hoc in reliquis
animalibus uoluam’. It is not impossible that the word was
originally applicable to the anatomy of animals, and then, like
various other words (e.g. pellis, rostrum, gamba), transferred
to humans. Certainly it was in use as a culinary term for a
sow’s matrix (Hor. Epist. 1.15.41, Petron. 70.2, Mart. 7.20.11,
13.56.2, Juv. 11.81), and it survived with this meaning in the
old dialect of Sassari. 3 But outside the culinary language there
is little sign of a restriction to the womb of animals (but see
below on the Mulomedicina Chironis). Pliny himself uses
uulua twice elsewhere in book 11 of an animal’s matrix (210
twice), whereas uterus indicates the human womb at 11.270,
but he does not consistently make such a distinction. Vulua is
extremely common in the Natural History, of the human womb
(see below).

The first example of uulua (in any sense) in prose is at Varro
Rust. 2.1.19 'dicuntur agni cordi, qui post tempus nascuntur
ac remanserunt in uoluis intimis . .. uocant chorion, a quo
cordi appellati’. Here uolua is used as an equivalent of xopiov,
the membrane which surrounds the foetus. Varro has given
uolua his own special sense ('wrapping, enclosure’), based on
a popular etymology (< uoluo ; cf. inuolucrum). It is in Scri-
bonius Largus and Celsus that uulua makes its first appear¬
ance meaning 'womb’. In Celsus the word outnumbers uterus
by 30:11, and in Scribonius by 2:0 (see 121,126). Vulua usually
means 'womb’ in Celsus (note particularly 7.29, where uulua
occurs 10 times in an account of the method of delivery of the
stillborn foetus, and 4.1.12, where the womb (uulua) is de-

1 R. Cavenaile, Corpus Papyrorum Latinarum (Wiesbaden, 1958).

* See FEW XIV, p. 251.

3 FEW XIV, p.648.

102 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

scribed precisely: 'ea (uulua), recta tenuataque ceruice, quem
canalem uocant, contra mediam aluum orsa, inde paulum ad
dexteriorem coxam conuertitur; deinde super rectum intes-
tinum progressa, iliis feminae latera sua innectit’). Vterus ,
however, is not used as an unmarked anatomical term with
this precise sense. Often, as we have seen, it means 'belly’
(internal or external), whether of male or female. At 2.10.1 it
has taken on the meaning 'foetus’: 'feminis uterum non ger-
entibus’ (cf. e.g. uenter at Liv. 1.34.3). And a few times the
phrases in utero and ex utero are used in roughly the senses
'before birth’ and 'after birth, after childbearing’ (7.17.1,
7.28.1, 7.32). At 7.28.1 ex utero means 'inherited from the
womb’, i.e. 'congenital’: 'si ex utero est, membrana ori uoluae
opposita est’. Celsus thus restricts uterus to certain idiomatic
and special senses, and brings uulua into service as the regular
anatomical term.

In later medical Latin (see below), when uterus is used at
all, it tends to be restricted to one or two phrases (notably in
utero). Celsus would appear to be partially anticipating the
usage of later writers. Presumably uterus was already obso¬
lescent in everyday speech, and hence showing a tendency
(later to become more marked) to be restricted to a few idioms.
Celsus seems to have taken uulua from popular speech, re¬
taining uterus as a semantically marked term.

There is sufficient evidence to establish a stylistic distinction
between uterus and uulua (I leave aside culinary examples of
the word) in the early Empire. Vterus, unlike uulua, was freely
admitted both in the higher genres of poetry (see above on
epic; cf. Hor. Carm. 3.22.2) and in formal prose (e.g. Tacitus
and Apuleius have uterus 10 and 11 times respectively, uulua
not at all; Seneca the Younger uses uterus 18 times, but has
uulua only at N.Q. 3.25.11; Pliny the Younger, Suetonius and
Justin all use uterus, but not uulua, except as a culinary term).
Vulua, for its part, appears in literature in satire and epigram
(on technical prose, see below), both genres which drew on the
everyday language. For the sense 'womb’, see Mart. 11.61.11
'nam dum tumenti mersus haeret in uolua’, Juv. 2.32 'cum tot
abortiuis fecundam Iulia uuluam / solueret’. The currency of
the word in ordinary speech is shown by its use in defixiones.
Note in particular Audollent 135 B.7 'umlicu[m] cunu[m] /
ulua[m]’, where its juxtaposition with cunnus suggests that it
was the established vox propria for the part. Cf. Audollent 300

Designations of the Female Genitalia 103

(= CIL VIII.19525 (B).2) 'q(uem) p(eperit) uulua’, 1 Audollent
265 A.6 'Victoria / quem [= quam] peperit sua / uulua’ (cf.
264). 2

Vulua was not used only of the womb in the early Empire.
It tended to shift its reference slightly to other parts of the
female genitalia. In the vocabulary of popular speech no rigid
distinction is necessarily made between the womb, the internal
genitalia (vagina) and the external pudenda (see p. 94 n. 2).
Similarly there is some interchange between words for 'anus’
and those for 'rectum’ in Latin. 3 At 4.1.12, where Celsus de¬
scribes the outlet of the female urethra in relation to the
vagina, he must have meant by the phrase uuluae ceruicem
not 'neck of the womb’, but 'entrance of the vagina’: 'turn in
masculis iter urinae spatiosius et conpressius a ceruice huius
descendit ad colem: in feminis breuius et plenius super uuluae
ceruicem se ostendit’. Hence uulua must mean 'vagina’, or
perhaps, more generally, 'vagina + womb’. 4 At 7.28.1, a passage
which deals with the affliction of sealed labia (note 'earum
naturalia nonnumquam inter se glutinatis oris concubitum
non admittunt’), os uoluae obviously has much the same sense
(for the same expression with the same implication, see Vulg.
Prov. 30.16; cf. CGL III.606.50 'uulua os matricis’): 'si ex utero
est, membrana ori uoluae opposita est’. At Pers. 6.73 uulua
comes close to the sense 'vagina’: 'patriciae inmeiat uoluae’. In
later Latin note Fulgent^ p. 158.18 Helm 'Salomon adulterinae
uuluae contagione turpatus’. And at Juv. 6.129 the word has
almost certainly been used of part of the external pudenda,
viz. the clitoris: 'adhuc ardens rigidae tentigine uoluae, / et
lassata uiris necdum satiata recessit’. Both tentigo (Hor. Serm.
1.2.118, Mart. 7.67.2, Priap. 23.4, 33.5) and rigidus (Petron.
134.11, Mart. 11.16.5, Priap. 4.1, 45.1) were typically used of
(male) erection. Such terminology might be applied to the

1 See David R. Jordan, Philol. 120 (1976), pp. 127ff., suggesting a restoration
which is certainly right (Audollent tentatively took puuluam as equivalent to
puluerem).

2 On the text, see Jordan, p. 131 (Audollent Suauulua). Jordan points out
that in Greek defixiones p.r|Tpa sometimes occurs in similar contexts.

3 See Adams, Cuius, pp. 238f., and below, p. 116.

4 Similarly uterus may indicate the vagina at Sisenn. Miles. 10 'ut eum
penitus utero suo recepit’. Sexual penetration was probably being described
here, but it is just possible that someone was spoken of as taking refuge in
the womb (cf. Justin 1.6.14 'sublata ueste obscena corporis ostendunt rogantes,
num in uteros matrum uel uxorum uellent refugere’).

104 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

clitoris (see Cael. Aurel. Gyn. p. 113.1394 for tentigo used of
an erect landica: 'quibusdam landicis horrida comitatur mag¬
nitude et feminas partium feditate confundit et, ut plerique
memorant, ipse adfecte tentigine uirorum appetentiam su-
munt et in uenerem coacte ueniunt’), but scarcely to any other
part of the female genitalia. Similarly the etymology which
Isidore offers at Etym. 11.1.137 ('uulua uocata quasi ualua, id
eat ianua uentris, uel quod semen recipiat, uel quod ex ea
foetus procedat’) suggests that he thought of the word as in¬
cluding the cervix and perhaps the vagina.

Scribonius Largus and Celsus were not alone among tech¬
nical writers in admitting uulua. Columella, it is true, largely
rejected uulua in favour of uterus (uulua occurs at 7.9.5 only,
compared with 10 examples of uterus), but Pliny the Elder,
who has only a handful of examples of uterus, 1 used uulua with
extreme frequency (e.g. in 26.151-61 there are 14 examples of
uulua, against 2 of uterus). 2

If one is right in seeing in uulua a word from the popular
language in the early Empire, one is faced with the need to
explain its acceptance by a few technical writers. Celsus’ La¬
tin, though syntactically correct, presents a curiously mixed
vocabulary. Abdomen, for example, which also seems to have
started as a term for a part of an animal’s anatomy (see Plin.
Nat. 11.211), and which occurs only in abusive contexts in
formal prose (Cic. Pis. 41, Sest. 110, Sen. Ben. 7.26.4; like
uulua, the word is avoided in high poetry, but found in Juvenal
(4.107)), was freely admitted by him (10 times) in application
to the human anatomy. Pliny’s language is often artificial, but
he too allowed colloquialisms. 3 Technical writers were less se¬
lective in their choice of words than orators, historians and
other non-technical prose writers. In any case the womb is not
a part which might be expected to attract outright vulgarisms.
Whereas the external female pudendum, as an observable and
manifestly sexual part, is often the subject of comment in
coarse speech, the womb, as an internal organ which has no
obvious part in sexual intercourse, is infrequently mentioned

1 Schneider, In C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae Libros Indices (cited
above, p. 54 n. 1), s.v. quotes only 6 examples, but his collection is not complete

(add, e.g. 28.247).

3 Schneider’s collection of examples runs to about five columns.

3 See A. dnnerfors, Pliniana, in Plinii Maioris Naturalem Historiam Studia
Grammattca Semantica Critica (cited above, p. 54 n. 1), pp. 43ff.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 105

in ordinary speech. It does not generally serve as a source of
ribald jokes. Though one can legitimately speak of uterus as
a word of higher status than uulua in the early Empire, and
though uulua was probably the term which an ordinary
speaker would have chosen to designate the womb should he
have had to name the part, the word would scarcely have had
an overtly vulgar or offensive tone. The terms 'popular’ or
'colloquial’ as applied to it must be given a more restricted
sense.

Vulua seems to have been the vox propria for the womb in
the eyes of the early Latin Bible translators, as far as one can
judge from the published portions of the Vetus Latina. Vulua
appears to be the usual rendition of p.-rjTpot {Gen. 29.31, 30.22,
Luke 2.23), whereas uterus, which is often in the phrase in
utero {Gen. 25.22, 25.23, 38.24, 38.27, Luke 1.31, 1.41, 1.44),
was chosen to render ya<mf|p {Luke 1.31) or KoiXCa {Luke 1.15,
1.41, 1.44). This would suggest that uulua had the specific
sense 'womb’ during the second century, whereas uterus was
regarded as less specific (because it no longer had the status
of a vox propria, having fallen out of regular use?). Vterus is
more numerous (72 times) than uulua (33 times) in the Vul¬
gate, presumably partly because the tastes of the learned Jer¬
ome manifest themselves in the Old Testament (where uterus
occurs 59 times), and partly because yaoTfip and koiXio were
particularly common in the Greek version. The frequency of
uulua in Tertullian (see, e.g. Carn. 17, 19 (6 times), 20 (5
times)) is probably a reflection of the importance of the word
in the Vetus Latina.

At some stage during the Empire uulua itself was rivalled
as the popular term for the womb, by matrix. The first alleged
example of matrix in this sense quoted by TLL VIII.483.3ff. is
at Sen. Contr. 2.5.6 'fac iam ne uiro placeat matrix’, but there
the word could have its original meaning, 'breeding animal’
(= 'see that she no longer pleases her husband as a breeder’).
It is possible that such a sentence might have been interpreted
to mean 'see that her breeder [i.e. womb] no longer pleases her
husband’, with the womb personified. Hence matrix might be
described as transitional in sense, or at least as used in the
sort of ambiguous context which would tend to generate the
new meaning. Another ambiguous example quoted by the TLL
supposedly meaning 'uterus’ is at Tert. Carn. 17: 'si ex humana
matrice substantiam traxit’. The new sense definitely appears

106 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

in the Vetus Latina (though matrix was probably outnumbered
in early translations by uulua and uterus)-, see Judith 9.2 ( ap.
Lucif. Non Parc. 10, p. 230.20) 'coinquinauerunt matricem’
(= p.T|Tpav). Often in translation literature of later antiquity,
as in this passage, matrix renders p.f| T P a . and it is not imposs¬
ible that the phonetic similarity between the two words was
one of the factors which lay behind the semantic change in the
Latin word. Crude Latin translators of the late period some¬
times chose a Latin word not because it had the same meaning
as the Greek word before them, but because it was phonetically
the nearest equivalent to it, and was roughly of the same
semantic field. 1 In addition there is a close relationship between
the meanings 'mother, breeder’ and 'womb’. Lat. mater is
widely reflected in Romance in the sense 'womb’; 2 and in the
defixio Audollent 265A. 6, quoted above, p. 103, sua uulua
(used pars pro toto) is virtually equivalent to sua mater.

Matrix is extremely common in late medical works. It is
found 15 times in the section on gynaecology in Theodoras
Priscianus, in which uterus and uulua do not occur. The short
anonymous medical work edited by Piechotta has only matrix
(3 times, at CL (twice) and CLXIII). In books II and IV of
Dioscorides Lat. matrix is used 27 times, uterus twice (both
times in the expression in utero: II, p. 197.2, IV, p. 65.15), and
uulua not at all. In the first book of the Latin versions of
Oribasius only matrix is admitted (p. 49.6 Aa Mprland, p. 49.8
La, p. 66.18 Aa, La, p. 75.18 Aa, La, p. 78.21 Aa, p. 78.23 La).

1 In the Latin Bible translations, for example, poto was sometimes used to
render hotC£<d (e.g. Matth. 25.27, in codd. r 1 , d, f, h, q of the Vet. Lat.)-, hence
it was converted into a transitive verb.

2 See FEW VI. 1. p. 478. Indeed mater = ’womb’ is attested in Latin as a
rendition of p.T|Tpa at Oribas. Lat. p. 355.8 La Cinfrigidata matre non concipit’;
Aa has matrix), quoted by F. Amaldi, Latinitatis Italicae Medii Aevi Lexicon
Imperfectum I (Brussels, 1939), s.v. mater. This example could well be a scribal
slip (for matrice). There is possibly another example in a popular name for a
plant recorded by Isidore, Etym. 17.9.51 'eadem et matris animula, propter
quod menstrua moueat’. I cannot see why a plant which induced menstruation
should be called 'soul, life of the mother 1 , since it is not only matres as such
who menstruate. But the womb could be personified in popular speech (note
the popular incantation recorded by Marc. Emp. 10.35 'item carmen hoc utile
profluuio muliebri: "stupidus in monte ibat, stupidus stupuit. adiuro te matris
[sic], ne hoc iracunda suscipias” ’), and it seems plausible that a plant which
activated its natural function should be called its 'soul’. A comparison of (e.g.)
Paul. Dig. 36.1.83 (81) 'qui ex eadem matre erant’ with Rustius Barbarus, CPL
304.7ff. 'habio . . . fratrem gemellum qui de unum uentrem exiut’ illustrates
the type of context which might have generated the new meaning for mater.

Designations of the Female Genitalia 107

Cassius Felix uses only matrix (25 times). The Latin transla¬
tion of Hippocr. Aer. has matrix 3 times (rendering both p/rjTpa
and \xrrepa; for the former translated see 21, p. 41.7, and for
the latter, see 7, p. 13.15). Vterus outnumbers matrix (4 times),
but 3 times it is in the phrase in utero (rendering ev yaorpu:
7, p. 13.13, 10, p. 23.22, 21, p. 41.14). The fourth example (7,
p. 13.7 'difficile uterum accipiunt’) also corresponds to ev yottr-
Tpi (ev yacTTpl urxoucn p-oXis), and it is possible that the text is
corrupt. In Caelius Aurelianus’ Gynaecia matrix is very com¬
mon (I do not have full statistics, but there are 31 examples
in the first 13 pages of the text), but uulua occurs only once
(p. 25.632, in its culinary sense). Caelius has the phrase in
utero a few times (pp. 3.72, 44.1134, 50.1295), but unlike most
late medical writers he also admitted uterus sometimes in
other forms (13 times). Finally, Soranus Lat. (Mustio) uses
matrix 142 times, uterus 9 times (for in utero see pp. 12.13,
15.4, 16.8, 28.7, 33.8; cf. p. 10.10 intra uterum and 85.12 de
utero). He has uulua 19 times.

A few writers stand apart from the rest. Marcellus Empiri¬
cus has matrix only once (in the form matris: 10.35), but uulua
7 times. Vterus, in the phrase intra uterum, occurs at 7.23.
And in the Mulomedicina Chironis there are 8 examples of
uulua = 'womb’ (742, 745 3 times, 747, 761, 771 twice), com¬
pared with 4 of matrix (176, 177, 745 twice); cf. uenter at 745
and 765, and uter, a malapropism for uterus, at 224 (with in;
see above, p. 88).

In only three of the works mentioned above (Mustio, Mar¬
cellus Empiricus and the Mulomedicina Chironis) is uulua at
all common, and in one of these (Mustio) it is greatly outnum¬
bered by matrix. Though the Latin of all three writers might
be classed as particularly vulgar, one cannot deduce from their
taste for uulua that it was still the standard word for the part
in all or most areas. It is a fair assumption that the great
frequency of matrix in late medical works considered as a
whole reflects its wide currency at the time. It survives in
Gallo-romance and Italian ( matrice) meaning 'womb’, as well
as in other Romance languages with a variety of different
senses, 1 whereas uulua (= 'womb’) had a more limited survival
(OLog. bulva, Jud.-Fr. borbe). 2 The anatomical vocabulary of

1 See FEW VI.l, p. 502, REW 5422.

2 See FEW XIV, p. 648, REW 9470.

108 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

the Mulomedicina is by no means drawn exclusively from the
everyday language ( uirginalis = cunnus is perhaps unparal¬
leled). Those late writers who preferred uulua probably did so
out of personal idiosyncrasy or under the influence of their
sources. It is also just possible that uulua had a lingering
tendency to be used in application to the anatomy of animals.
But since Pelagonius and Vegetius do not speak of the womb,
one cannot be certain that the author of the Mulomedicina
was employing a veterinary usage.

In veterinary writers matrix is often used in another sense,
of a vein (apparently the jugular) in the neck from which blood
was let. Note matricalis uena at Veg. Mul. 1.10.7 'postea ex
ceruice de matricali uena sanguinem detrahes’ (cf. 1.13.2, Or-
ibas. Lat. Syn. 1, p. 49.1 Aa Mprland), and compare (e.g.)
Pelagon. 17 'sanguinem de matrice detrahe’. 1 Much the same
phraseology occurs repeatedly: Pelagon. 24, 37, 291, 302, Mul.
Chir. 15, 16, 262, 965, Veg. Mul. 1.23, 1.25.1, 1.34.2, 1.55.1,
1.56.25, 2.5.3, 2.6.1, 2.68, 2.76.2, 2.94, 2.136, 3.7.2 (cf. 3.7.3
dematricare).

Ordinary speech does not distinguish parts of the womb, but
in some Latin medical writings certain specialised terms, de¬
rived directly from Greek, are recorded. Soranus Gyn.
p. 177.14fF. Rose names the o-Toptov, TpaxT)Xos, auxV> “M-ot.
irXeupd, 7ru0pf|v and pdcns of the womb. In the corresponding
passage (p. 8.5ff.) Mustio uses the terms orificium, collum,
ceruix, umeri, latera, fundus and basis. Most of these words
occur elsewhere both in Caelius Aurelianus and Mustio. For
orificium, see Mustio pp. 14.18, 18.1, 20.6, 84.9; Caelius uses
osculum = crropiov (28 times in the Gynaecia, according to the
index of Drabkin and Drabkin: e.g. p. 72.265). For fundus =
see, e.g. Mustio p. 18.13, Cael. Gyn. pp. 4.81, 6.130,
72.265. 2 For collum, see Cael. Gyn. pp. 4.80, 5.122. 3 Ceruix is

1 See K.- D. Fischer, Pelagonii An Veterinaria (Leipzig, 1980), p. 97 (against
TLL VHI. 483. 19ff.).

2 See further TLL VI.1.1575.35ff.

3 Collum in a gynaecological sense is a medical term in recorded Latin, but
the popular belief that the neck ( collum ) of a virgin increased in circumference
after intercourse (see Catull. 64.376f. 'non illam nutrix orienti luce reuisens /
hestemo collum poterit circumdare filo’) would seem to be based on a view
that the stretching of the 'neck’ of the vagina by intercourse had a reflection
in a swelling of the external neck. We have seen that a similarity was often
observed between internal organs and prominent external parts of the anat¬
omy (note, for example, Martial’s comparison of the cunnus of Lydia to the

Designations of the Female Genitalia 109

found in a number of medical and veterinary works (Cels.
4.1.12, Mul. Chir. 228, Veg. Mul. 1.46.2) in various senses.

throat iguttur) of a pelican at 11.21.10). Hence collum might well have been
transferred occasionally in popular speech to the vagina. In the medical
language, however, collum is rather more specialised: it does not indicate the
vagina.

Chapter Four

Cuius and its Synonyms

I have dealt elsewhere 1 with cuius and its synonyms, and also
with words for 'buttocks’ and 'rectum’. Here I include a sum¬
mary of the evidence relating to cuius and its substitutes.

1. Basic words

Cuius (of uncertain etymology) was the basic word for 'anus’.
As such it is found mainly in graffiti and epigram. There are
6 examples in the Pompeian graffiti, as well as a case of
the artificial compound culibonia (CIL IV.8473); 2 cf. CIL
XI.6721.7, 14 (the Perusine sling bullets). Catullus has the
word 6 times, in both hendecasyllables and elegiacs, Martial
16 times, and the Corpus Priapeorum 4 times. It is also found
at Phaedr. 4.19.36; Phaedrus admits various basic words (see
the Appendix). The drastic tone which cuius was capable of
bearing is nowhere more obvious than in Catullus 97 (note,
for example, Ilf. 'quem siqua attingit, non illam posse pute-
mus / aegroti culum lingere camificis?’; cf. CIL IV.4954 'linge
culu’). Cuius is very widely reflected in the Romance lan¬
guages. 3

The currency of cuius in Vulgar Latin is confirmed by its
productivity as the base of derivatives, a productivity which
is shared by its reflexes in the Romance languages. Culibonia
(= 'ea quae bonum culum habet’) was obviously a humorous
formation, designating perhaps a whore who offered anal in-

1 Adams, Cuius.

s On which see F. Munari, RCCM 3 (1961), pp. 105ff.
* See REW 2384.

Ill

Cuius and its Synonyms

tercourse. Its termination must be modelled on that of female
names such as Scribonia, Antonia, Pomponia, etc., with vowel
quantity disregarded. 1 It would no doubt have sounded anom¬
alous, with its adjectival element second and termination -ia.
A similar derivative is culiola (CGL 11.164.9), which, though
it is glossed by Tptfldq, must have had much the same impli¬
cation as culibonia (of a woman who offered the cuius). Marius
Victorinus, GL VI.8.9 refers to a nickname Sesquiculus given
to Iulius Caesar Strabo:'. . . donee Iulius Caesar, qui Vopiscus
et Strabo et Sesquiculus dictus est’. The force of the name
must be 'qui ita magnis est praeditus natibus, ut uideatur
habere culum cum dimidio’ (= evpvn-pwKTos ). 2 The verbs culo
(Petron. 38.2 'arietes a Tarento emit, et eos culauit in gregem’)
and apoculo (Petron. 62.3, 67.3) are more problematical. 3 4 * 6 A
derivation from cuius has not always been accepted for
apoculo * recently, for example, Shipp (p. 88) has suggested
that apoculo was a borrowing from some such verb as Gk. dial.
diroKoXtovo), 'disappear from view, go away’. This theory would
do nothing to explain culo, which must surely be associated
with apoculo. And apoculo, like culo, is a transitive verb. I see
no insuperable difficulty in deriving culare from cuius 5 and

1 See Munari, p. 105.

2 See E. Bickel, RhM 100 (1957), p. 4, quoting Forcellini-De Vit.

5 The text is certain at 38.2, but there are variants in the other two passages.

4 See E! V. Max-morale, Petronii Arbitri Cena Trimalchionis 1 (Florence,

1961), p. 123 (on 62.3) for various explanations.

6 There waB no uniform semantic relationship between the rare first conju¬
gation denominative verbs based on nouns for parts of the body, and their
nominal base. "Magulare 'eat’ (see G. Rohlfs, Die lexikalische Differenzierung
der romanischen Sprachen (Munich, 1954), p. 37 and map 20: surviving as
magliar in Grisons, Switzerland), apparently a denominative of magulum
’jaw’ (see Schol. Juv. 2.15 and the loan-word ixayouXo 'cheek’ in NGk.), would
mean literally 'use one’s jaws’. Maxillare, on the other hand, which at CGL
11.438.23 glosses cttojaoko-tiu), must refer to an action directed at someone else’s
jaw Chit (someone) in the jaw’). Smith (Petronii Arbitri Cena Trimalchionis)
on 38.2 translates culauit 'got them to bash his ewes’, as if it were a causative
correspondent of mryi^eiv. But such a causative would be unlikely to have a
prepositional phrase (in gregem) as its complement; and if it were a sexual
causative, it would have to refer to pedicatio, not fututio, which would be
inappropriate. The verb must mean 'push (someone) by, in the cuius', i.e.
'drive, impel’. Its relationship to cuius would be much the same as that of
maxillo to maxilla.

112 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

apoculo from aiTo + culare. 1 The interpretation of reculo at
CGL V. 329.5 is doubtful. For verbal derivatives of cuius in
Romance, cf. Fr. reculer, Ital. rinculare.

Podex is sometimes interpreted as gross in tone, 2 but one
should not be led astray by its etymology (cf. pedo 'fart’). 3 It is
unattested in the Pompeian graffiti, is hardly used by Catul¬
lus, Martial or the author of the Corpus Priapeorum (note
Mart. 2.42.1, 6.37.1, Priap. 77.9), and does not survive in the
Romance languages. But it is used by Juvenal (2.12), whose
lexical mildness has been commented on earlier, and also by
Ausonius ( Epigr . 93.3, p. 346 P.). Later it is admitted in med¬
ical Latin (11 times in both the Gynaecia of Caelius Aurelianus
and in Cassius Felix, and 4 times in Marcellus Empiricus).
Note too Cass. Fel. p. 178.15 'alia quae appellatur a Graecis
dactylice, id est podicalis, siquidem podicis uitia emendat’,
where podicalis is given as an equivalent of 5oiktu\i.kt|, though
SoiktuXios ('ring’ > 'anus’) had an exact parallel in anus (see
below), which had various adjectival derivatives (e.g. anularis,
-arius). Cassius Felix is according podex the status of the
proper educated word. I should interpret its distribution as an
indication that it was obsolescent in the classical period, and
obsolete by late antiquity. Its connection with pedo probably
ceased to be felt. An obsolete word which had once been offen¬
sive might be expected to undergo an amelioration of tone (cf.
penis).

2. Metaphors

It has been pointed out that metaphorical designations of the
cuius are much the same as those of the cunnus, and numerous

1 Compounded denominatives based on anatomical terms (e.g. delumbo, de-
matrico, decollo, depilo ) usually mean either 'take away the body part (from
someone)’ (e.g. delumbo 'castrate’) or 'take something from the body part’
(dematrico means 'let blood from the matrix, jugular vein’). Apoculo (reflexive),

which in both passages means in effect 'leave’, does not fit into either of these
categories. It must be based on culare, rather than directly on cuius (= 'drive,
impel oneself (someone) away’). For a hybrid in Latin with a Latin base and
Greek prefix, cf. catafrico (?) at Cass. Fel. p. 8.10, and note "catafalicum (<
fala: FEW II. 1, pp. 486f.), catamodicum, -e (TLL III.591.8ff.), *catalectus ( <lec-
tus: REW 1759). Hybrids more often have a Latin base and a Greek suffix:
e.g. Plaut. Rud. 310 hamiota, Petron. 42.1 baliscus, 62.14 exopinisso (?).

3 See Courtney, pp. 45f.

3 See Pokomy I, p. 829.

Cuius and its Synonyms 113

examples of such substitutes for cuius have been quoted in
Chapter III. Here I refer to the relevant places in that Chapter,
and discuss a few metaphors which did not come up there.

Perhaps the largest category of images for the cuius could
be described as 'agricultural’: ager and agellus (p. 84), fossa
(p. 86), hortus and perhaps pratum (p. 84), based on Kf|iros and
\eipwv (words indicating not the cuius but the cunnus in
Greek), and saltus at Plaut. Cas. 922 'ubi ilium saltum uideo
opsaeptum, rogo ut altero sinat ire’ (in the second clause saltu,
understood with altero, has the implication 'anus’; for saltus=
cunnus, see p. 84). The caiques hortus and pratum (?) were
obviously literary.

Comparable with, but not identical to, the above images was
the important metaphor of the fig. The fig had a widely-felt
symbolism in antiquity. 1 In Greek, words for 'fig’ are sometimes
used metaphorically for the anus (e.g. urxcis at Philip, A. Plan.
240.8, Argentarius, A. Plan. 241.5). The usual metaphorical
sense of a sexual kind borne by Latin ficus and comparable
words was 'anal sore’ (usually thought to have been induced
by anal penetration): e.g. Mart. 6.49.11 'nascetur, licet hoc
uelis negare, / inserta tibi ficus a cupressu’, 14.86.2 'stragula
succincti uenator sume ueredi: / nam solet a nudo surgere ficus
equo’ (here the ficus is caused by horse riding), Juv. 2.13 'sed
podice leui / caeduntur tumidae medico ridente mariscae’ (a
marisca was a large fig, apparently considered insipid: see
below). This use of ficus etc. may have been a caique based on
cruKov, cruKWCTis, perhaps introduced originally into the medical
language. But at 12.96.9f. Martial goes beyond the current
metaphorical use of such words: 'non eadem res est: Chiam
uolo, nolo mariscam: / ne dubites quae sit Chia, marisca tua
est’. A husband desiring to pedicare boys might say that ped-
icatio of his own wife would not be the same thing: he wants
the Chian fig (Chia), not the insipid marisca. The suggestive
phraseology here was adopted with Greek usage in mind; one
cannot deduce that ficus et sim. were regularly used of the
cuius in the Latin of Martial’s day. But it is worth pointing
out that in late popular Latin ficus may have taken on the
sense 'female pudenda’. Ital. fica = 'pudendum muliebre’ is
usually taken as a late Latin caique on ctvkov in another of its

See V. Buchheit, RhM 103 (1960), pp. 200ff.

114 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

senses (see Aristoph. Pax 1354). 1 Evidence for a corresponding
late use of ficus= cuius is lacking.

A 'topographical’ image for the anus has been mentioned
earlier (see p. 23 on in tutum locum at Pompon. 126; with this
compare uicinis . . . locis at Sen. Contr. 1.2.22, quoted below,
p. 162). A rather more striking topographical metaphor is
found at Auson. Epigr. 93.4, p. 346 P. 'sed quod et elixo plan-
taria podice uellis / et teris inclusas pumice Clazomenas’.
Clazomenae is a small island roughly round in shape, and
hence of suggestive appearance to those accustomed to such
bizarre jokes (with the surrounding sea representing the but¬
tocks). A parallel for this type of image may be provided by
Evpuraxs = kw0o<; at Rufinus, AJ 3 . 5.60.6. The river Eurotas
might be thought to resemble the koctOos, because it flows
straight down into the Laconian sea between two peninsulas
which look (on a map) like thighs. Ausonius himself uses a
similar metaphor at Epigr. 106.9, p. 351 P. 'luteae Symple-
gadis antrum’; it was based on Mart. 11.99.5 'sic constrin-
guntur magni Symplegade culi’. The metaphorical use of
geographical terms had long had a place in ancient sexual
humour (cf. Aristoph. Thesm. 647). One cannot help noticing
that the anus attracted a variety of Grecising metaphorical
designations in Latin epigram.

The most common metaphor for 'anus’ is anus itself, lit.
'ring’, an etymology felt by Cicero ( Fam. 9.22.2) and no doubt
by many others at different periods. Some sesterces, for ex¬
ample, of the year A.D. 192 contain the inscription 'Herculi
Romano Augusto’ (of Commodus), written in three lines div¬
ided down the middle by the club of Hercules; 2 hence the
right-hand column reads 'culi ano usto’. In this phrase anus
must be given its etymological sense (= 'with the ring of his
anus burnt’, sc. lay pedicatio'). Some metaphors retain a fig¬
urative force over a very long period. Anus had a polite tone,
and was the standard term in medical writings of all periods
(e.g. 15 times in Celsus); podex (see above) was no more than
an occasional rival. The metaphor was old: note the diminutive
anulus at Cato Agr. 159. Anus has a parallel in Gk. SoiktvXios

1 See Battieti-Alessio, Dizionario etimologico italiano III, p. 1632. See also
M. Cortelazzo, L’influsso linguistico greco a Venezia (Bologna, 1970), pp. 88f.
on figa, 'pudendum femminile’. Cf. REW 3281.

2 For the coins, see W. Derichs, RhM 95 (1952), pp. 48ff.

115

Cuius and its Synonyms

(e.g. Pollux 2.210), but the Greek usage, which seems to be
fairly late, need not have determined the Latin. We have seen
some other sexual metaphors in the Latin medical language
(uirga, radius, caulis).

The lack of uniformity in the Latin medical / technical vo¬
cabulary is well illustrated by Pliny the Elder’s taste for sedes
(e.g. Nat. 22.143, 23.75, 23.83), which was almost certainly a
caique on I8pa (e.g. at Hdt. 2.87 and in medical works).

Some other metaphors which have been seen are the 'ana¬
tomical’ image inferior guttur at Plaut. Aul. 304 (p. 33),
uagina, 'sheath’, used in conjunction with machaera at Plaut.
Pseud. 1181 (p. 20), and the images of the cave (p. 85), door
(p. 89) and path (p. 89). At Pers. 4.36 I accept Housman’s
ualuas for uuluas, 1 a certain emendation which has not received
proper recognition. Vuluas (plur.) could not possibly be used
of the cuius of a pathic, but ualuae is regular in the plural (cf.
cravtfks at AJP. 9.415.6).

3. Euphemisms

It is a curiosity that the standard euphemism for the cuius
(anus) was not only metaphorical in origin, but was still felt
to be metaphorical in the historical period, at least by some
speakers. But there are also attested numerous less common,
non-metaphorical substitutes for the direct word. Any word
indicating the back or its lower part could of course be used as
an occasional euphemism (specialisation). Words for 'buttocks’
sometimes replace a more specific term for 'anus’: 2 e.g. CIL
X.4483 'caca, ut possimus bene dormire ... et pedicare natis
Candidas’ (cf. Mart. 12.75.3). At Mart. 9.47.6 ('in molli rigidam
clune libenter habes’) dune might be treated as ambiguous
between the meanings 'buttocks’ and 'anus’, but the choice of
the singular hints strongly at the second sense. For tergum
implying the anus, see Auson. Epigr. 93.6, p. 346 P. 'tergo
femina, pube uir es’, and for postica pars, Lucil. 119 'non
peperit, uerum postica parte profudit’. Cf. posterio, glossed by
anus at CGL UI.596.7 (> Olt. postione, OFr. poistron). Here

1 See Classical Papers, pp. 1178f.

1 Conversely words for 'anus’ are sometimes used of the buttocks: e.g. Eng.
arse, Ital., Sp. culo. Ft. cul.

116 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

again one sees the close relationship between the meanings
'buttocks’ and 'anus’. The Old French reflex has both senses,
and the closely connected posteriora is used of the buttocks at
HA., Hel. 5.4.

Viscera, which we have seen in the sense 'female pudenda’
(p. 95), is used as a synonym of cuius at Juv. 9.43 'an facile et
pronum est agere intra uiscera penem’ (here agere penem is a
graphic circumlocution for pedicare). For pudenda = 'anus’,
see p. 55, n. 3, and for (posterior) natura, p. 59. With this latter
expression, cf. Vulg. Iud. 3.22 'statimque per secreta naturae
alui stercora proruperunt’. Medius, finally, could be used of
any taboo part; for the implication 'anus’, see Priap. 54.2 'qui
medium uult te scindere, pictus erit’.

4. Miscellaneous

The use of cunnus = cuius, of a male pathic, was highly pe¬
jorative: C1L IV.1261 'futebatur inquam futuebatur ciuium
Romanorum atractis pedibus cunus’ (interpretation doubtful:
see p. 121), IV.10078 (with cunnus apparently used pars pro
toto, of a cinaedus; contrast the masculine derivative cunnio
at CIL IX.6089.2, on a tessera). The transfer to a male of terms
strictly applicable to a female suggests the effeminacy of the
referent with extreme forcefulness. One might compare futuo
= pedico (p. 121), and also the use of various feminine nouns
and names in application to males: e.g. Cic. Att. 1.14.5 filiola,
4.11.2 Appuleia, De Orat. 2.277 Egilia, Juv. 2.120 noua nupta.
Suet. Iul. 22.2 femina, Apul. Met. 8.26 puellae.

I mention finally the occasional overlap between words for
'anus’ and those for 'rectum’: e.g. CGL III.604.12 'podicem
stalem’ (stalls here is a vulgar form of extalis, 'rectum’; for this
meaning, see Mul. Chir. 476). It is only in the most precise
medical prose that a distinction is consistently made between
the anus and the rectum. Metaphorical designations in par¬
ticular may refer indifferently to the one part or the other
(note inferior guttur and uagina above). It is doubtful whether
speakers and non-technical writers consciously consider the
precise implication of the metaphors and euphemisms which
they might use for this general area of the anatomy.

The cuius was clearly a common topic of jokes both in ordi¬
nary speech (note culibonia and the name Sesquiculus ) and in

117

Cuius and its Synonyms

certain varieties of literature (comedy, farce and epigram), and
as such it inspired a surprising frequency of metaphors (more
than 20 examples have been mentioned above). In epigram
there was something of a convention of seeking bizarre meta¬
phors for the part.

In the lexicon of the language little distinction is drawn
between the cunnus and the cuius as the site of sexual acts;
metaphors and euphemisms for the two parts constantly
interchange.

Chapter Five

The Vocabulary Relating to
Sexual Acts

It would scarcely be possible to discuss all the designations of
sexual acts attested in Latin, but I have attempted to deal
with the most important categories, with the exception of eu¬
phemistic omissions. Various commonplace verbs and expres¬
sions are scarcely illustrated here, especially if the relevant
article in the TLL is adequate. On the other hand for rare,
little noticed or important phenomena I sometimes quote all
the evidence known to me.

1. Basic obscenities and some other direct words

(i) Futuo

The basic obscenity for the male part in sexual intercourse
with a woman was futuo. The tone of the word is indirectly
commented on by Martial at 1.35.Iff. Cuersus scribere me
parum seueros / nec quos praelegat in schola magister, / Cor-
neli, quereris’), a remark which looks back to the last word of
the preceding epigram ifutui). Cicero did not use futuo openly
in Fam. 9.22 (see § 1 alterum, an allusion to it). The etymology
of futuo is obscure, but it may be related to *futo ('hit, beat?),
which apparently provided the base of refuto and confuto}
Verbs of striking and the like are often applied metaphorically
to the act of the male in intercourse.

Like mentula, cunnus and cuius, futuo (and its derivatives)
are found mainly in epigram (and in those short poems of
Catullus which are in metres other than the elegiac) and graf-

1 See Emout and Meillet, s.vv. Cf. Pokomy, I, p. 112 (root *bh&u-, *bhd-,
'schlagen, stossen?; cf. fustis).

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 119

fiti. There are 63 examples in CIL IV (15 of which are in the
recent supplements), and 2 in the Graffiti del Palatino. In
Catullus there are 7 examples of futuo and its derivatives, of
which 5 are in iambics and hendecasyllables (6.13, 29.13, 32.8,
37.5, 41.1, 71.5, 97.9). 1 Martial has futuo 49 times (cf. 11.20.3,
an epigram of Augustus). 2 Other epigrammatists who used the
word are the author of the Priapea (13.1, 26.7, 57.6, 58.4,
63.16) and Luxorius ( Anth. Lat. 297.1, 5, 7, 317.3). Ausonius
avoided it in his epigrams. Horace used futuo (like cunnus)
early in the first book of the Sermones (1.2.127), but he later
turned away from the direct style. Futuo and the other ob¬
scenities do not appear in the Epodes, despite the precedent of
Archilochus and Hipponax.

Futuo survives all over the Romania. In France and Italy it
took on a wide range of derived senses, in which its sexual
force was weakened or lost. 3 In extant Vulgar Latin it shows
no tendency to weakening, but the example of the compound
effutuo in a popular verse quoted by Suet. Iul. 51 ('urbani,
seruate uxores: moechum caluom adducimus. / aurum in Gal¬
lia effutuisti, hie sumpsisti mutuum’) is transitional. Here one
has an extension of the use of the compounds seen at Catull.
6.13 (latera eefututa), 29.13 (diffututa mentula) and 41.1 (puella
defututa), all of which mean 'exhaust (a person or body part)
futuendo’ (cf. Priap. 26.7). In the verse quoted the verb means
'exhaust, squander money futuendo’ (i.e. scortando), and is thus
halfway to the sense 'throw away’ (sine fututione), which the
reflexes of futuo can have: e.g. Como fotet, 'wegwerfen,
schlagen’. 4 The object 'exhausted’ is no longer a person or part
of the body, but the means by which the squandering is effected
are still sexual.

Futuo is occasionally used of an act which could be described
as insulting or aggressive (e.g. CIL IV.4977 'Quintio hie futuit
ceuentes et uidit qui doluit’; this example is, however, excep¬
tional, in that the act referred to is pedicatio: see below), but
its tone is by no means primarily or predominantly aggres-

1 With the example at 97.9 Chic futuit multas’), compare CIL IV.2175 'hie ego
puellasmultasfutui’.

2 The type of expression in Augustus Cfutuit Glaphyran Antonius’) was almost
formulaic in graffiti; e.g. CIL IV.2288'Synethus Faustillam futuit’.

3 F£Wm,p. 928.

‘raW.loc.cit.

120 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

sive. 1 It is often used neutrally or even affectionately when the
circumstances or addressee are such that euphemism was not
called for (as in exchanges between whores and their clients).
CIL IV.4239 (= CE 41) appears to be an affectionate address:
'Fortunate, animula dulcis, perfututor, scribit qui nouit’ (the
last clause may have been written by someone else). A number
of Pompeian graffiti seem to be the work of prostitutes praising
the sexual capacities of their clients: e.g. CIL IV.2176 'Felix
bene futuis’, 2274 'Victor (?) bene ualeas qui bene futuis’ (cf.
2184-88, 2219, 2260). 2217 ('fututa sum hie’) was obviously
written by a woman; it is not the sort of remark one would
expect from a person who considered that she had been the
victim of a humiliating act. Another neutral use of the word
appears at CIL IV.1751 'siqui futuere uolet, Atticen quaerat
a. XVI’, which reads like a whore’s advertisement.

Conversely the client (using futuo ) might praise (by impli¬
cation) the services provided by the whore. Catullus’ fututiones
(32.7f. 'sed domi maneas paresque nobis / nouem continuas
fututiones’) occurs in an affectionate address of a prostitute
(note lines 1-2). An inscriptional context in which futuo com¬
monly appears is in records of enjoyable diversions with un¬
named women: e.g. CIL IV. 10677 'pranderunt hie
iucundissime et futuere simul’ (two friends record a pleasant
time together), 10678 'amabiliter futuimus bis bina’ (cf.
10675). In these contexts the word is empty of offensive intent.

In male boasts, futuo is chosen merely as the proper desig¬
nation of an act or acts indicative of the subject’s virility. The
writer scarcely sees himself as humiliating his partner, whose
identity is of no consequence: e.g. CIL IV.2175 'hie ego puellas
multas futui’, 2145 (a soldier’s boast), 2248 ('Phoebus bonus
futor’), 4029. The egotist of this kind usually regards himself
as desirable, not as an aggressor: note Catull. 97.9 'hie futuit
multas et se facit esse uenustum’.

It seems certain that futuo was freely used as an unemotive
technical term in brothels by both clients and prostitutes (cf.
Mart. 1.94.1). 2 Whether it was used neutrally by, or in direct

1 Compare the recent controversy in LCM on the tone of f3iv«<a: A. H. Som¬
mers tein, 5.2 (Feb. 1980), p. 47, Jocelyn, 5.3 (Mar. 1980), pp. 67ff., 6.2 (Feb.
1981), pp. 45f., J. Henderson, 5.10 (Dec. 1980), p. 243, D. M. Bain, 6.2 (Feb.
1981), pp. 43f.

* For fkvtw used by a low-class woman in Greek, see the mime at POxy. 413
(line 108), where a woman summons a slave (va pe fkiWicng.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 121

address of, matronae (see below, p. 217), one cannot tell. The
example at Mart. 11.23.5 is by no means neutral. Fulvia’s
words (Augustus ap. Mart. 11.20.7) 'aut futue aut pugnemus’
are of no significance, since they were put into her mouth by
a man. For the same reason the expression of female desire
found at (e.g.) Mart. 11.71.2 'queritur futui . . . necesse sibi’
provides no evidence for the way in which women spoke. But
it is a fair guess that futuo would have had some place in the
private amatory language. Sexual taboo words may shed their
taboo character in converse between intimates. It was recog¬
nised that there were certain nupta uerba which a bride would
learn to use: Plaut. frg. 68 Lindsay 'uirgo sum: nondum didici
nupta uerba dicere’ (cf. Fest. p. 174). But one cannot generalise
about what is a secret register in any language.

Occasionally futuo is used as a substitute for pedico (cf. OFr.
fot-en-cul, <futuo, = 'pederast’), 1 just as fkvew could be used for
(e.g. Aristoph. Lys. 1092): CIL IV.1261 'futebatur in-
quam futuebatur ciuium Romanorum atractis pedibus cunus’
(cunnus seems to be used here as an equivalent of cuius, but
the interpretation of the inscription is not absolutely certain),
4977 (a clear-cut example, quoted above, p. 119), 8897
'Nymphe fututa, Amomus fututa, Perennis fututu<s>’ (so the
editor, but u may have been misread for a). Some other alleged
examples 2 of the phenomenon are open to doubt. CIL IV.2188
('Scordopordonicus hie bene fuit [= futuit] quem uoluit’) may
display the encroachment of the masculine forms of the
relative on the feminine. CIL IV.2258 ('Victor cum Attine [=
Attide] hie fuit’) is of the same type as 2192 'Hermeros cum
Philetero et Caphiso hie futuerunt’ (groups of men record di¬
versions with unnamed prostitutes). Nevertheless the usage
certainly existed; it is analogous to the employment of cunnus
= cuius (of a male pathic) (see p. 116).

Except in the passive, futuo was not as a rule used of the
female role. 3 The woman in Mart. 7.70 ('ipsarum tribadum
tribas, Philaeni, / recte, quam futuis, uocas amicam’) is a tri-

1 See FEW in, p. 925.

2 See J. Mussehl, Hermes 54 (1919), p. 405.

3 At GL HI.473.14ff. ('nemo enim dicit "haec futuens’’, nisi in epicenis nom¬
inibus animalium, ut "haec aquila futuens”, in quo, quamuis femininum
proferamus, tamen marem intelligimus’) Priscian means that aquila, though
strictly feminine in form, could behave as a masculine because there was no
distinctive masculine form.

122 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

bas who behaves like a man (cf. Sen. Epist. 95.21, where ineo
is applied to the activities of similarly abnormal women); com¬
pare fututor at Mart. 1.90.6 ('at tu, pro facinus, Bassa, fututor
eras’). But at Mart. 11.7.13 futuo (act.) is definitely used of the
female part in normal sexual intercourse: 'quanto tu melius,
quotiens placet ire fututum, / quae uerum mauis dicere, Paula,
uiro’. There is no evidence that the supine was treated as
indifferent in respect of voice. This example anticipates the
intransitive use of fotre in Old French, of the woman. 1 It is
typically in the intransitive that verbs of this sense are trans¬
ferred to the female role (cf. Eng. she fucks).

There is also some evidence that fututrix had acquired a
corresponding use (= 'ea quae futuitur’): Audollent 2 191 'C.
Babullium et fotr(icem) eius Tertia Saluia’. 3 Note too CIL
IV.2204 MOAA <t>OYTOYTPIS. It is suggested at TLL
VI.1.1664.61f. that the reference here may be to a tribas, but
that is unlikely: note CIL IV.2203 'futui Mula hie’, and for
Mula see also 8185. CIL IV.4196 ('Miduse fututrix’) and 4381
are impossible to interpret.

Some humorous metaphorical uses of fututrix are found in
Martial: 11.22.4 'inguina saltern/parce fututrici sollicitare
manu’ (of fondling of a puer, since the puer is pathicus, the
'female’ in the relationship, he can be described as suffering
fututio (cf. futuo = pedico above); in this case, however, the
language is incongruous, since it is not the mentula quae fu-
tuit, nor is it the cuius qui futuitur)-, 11.61.10 'arrigere linguam
non potest fututricem’ (a more obvious metaphor, of a cunni-
lingus’ tongue). Cf. Mart. 11.40.3-6 'quam toto sibi mense non
fututam / cum tristis quereretur et roganti / causam reddere
uellet Aeliano, / respondit Glycerae dolere dentes’, where the
implication may be that Glycera was fututam ore.

1 See A. Tobler and E. Lommatzsch, Altfranzdsisches Worterbuch HI (Wiesba¬
den, 1954), 2174.

2 The textofthe de/udoisdoubtful: see Audollent, p. 253forvarioussuggestions.

3 SeeTLLVI.1.1215.70(s.v./btru:),offering/u<ntrixasoneequivalenceof/btr,cf.
futor=fututor at CIL IV.2248.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 123
(ii) Pedico

If pedico was genuinely derived from -ttouSikos, t& iroaSiKcx, 1 it
illustrates the tendency of Latin to take terms related to homo¬
sexuality from Greek (cf. cinaedus, catamitus, pathicus). The
character of the word (= 'bugger’, with object usually male,
but sometimes female: Mart. 11.104.17; cf. 11.99.2) receives
comment at Priap. 3.9f. ('simplicius multo est "da pedicare”
Latine / dicere’). To use pedico was to speak Latine, to employ
direct and basic Latin of a type which one might feel motivated
to avoid. See also Priap. 38.1-3 'simpliciter tibi me, quod-
cumque est, dicere oportet, /. . . pedicare uolo’, Mart. 11.63.4f.
'dicam simpliciter tibi roganti: / pedicant, Philomuse, curio-
sos’. One might compare Martial’s remark (11.20.10) on the
epigram of Augustus which contains futuo, pedico and men-
tula. Augustus, we are told, knew how to call a spade a spade
('qui scis Romana simplicitate loqui’).

The distribution of pedico shows a familiar pattern. There
are 13 definite examples in the Pompeian inscriptions, 2 and a
few additional possibilities. In the Graffiti del Palatino an
unambiguous example is found at 1.364; at 1.121, 232 pedico
is probably a noun (on which see below). In literature the verb
occurs in farce and mime (Pompon. 148, Laber. 21), in Catullus
(3 times in hendecasyllables: 16.1, 14, 21.4) and epigram: Au¬
gustus ap. Mart. 11.20.6, Lucan ap. Mart. 10.64.6, 16 times in
Martial, and at Priap. 3.9, 28.3, 35.5, 38.3 (cf. 7 and 67, letter
puzzles of which pedico is the solution).

The nominal correspondents to pedicare were pedico and
pedicator, both with suffixes productive in the popular
language. Pedico was perhaps the predominating form in the
first century (C/L IV.2194, 2389, 24426, 2447 (the interpret¬
ation of the last three examples is not completely certain), 5
times in Martial, at Priap. 68.8; cf. CIL XII.5695.3 = CE 358,
and the examples from the Graffiti del Palatino cited above),
but it was rivalled by pedicator, which was used by Calvus in
an epigram (ap. Suet. Iul. 49.1) and appears at CIL IV.4008.
From the sexual and excretory spheres various such forma-

1 See Emout and Meillet, s.v. paedico.

2 CIL IV. 1691 add. p. 211, 1882, 2048, 2210, 2254 add. p. 216, 23196 add. p.
216, 2360, 2375, 3932, 4008, 4523, 8805, 10693.

124 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

tions are attested at Pompeii ( cacator , destillator, fellator, fu-
tutor, irrumator and perfututor)}

Pedico (unlike futuo) is sometimes used in threats. It is
familiar to anthropologists and zoologists that punishment or
humiliation may be inflicted on an enemy or malefactor, or
one’s rank asserted, by a sexual violation, particularly
pedicatio. 1 2 Such acts, real or fictitious, are sometimes men¬
tioned by Latin writers (e.g. Val. Max. 6.1.13 'Cn. etiam Fur-
ium Brocchum qui deprehenderat familiae stuprandum
obiecit’). But sexual violations genuinely perpetrated are no
doubt less common than substitute forms of linguistic aggres¬
sion. Instead of carrying out a violation, an aggressor may
threaten to carry it out. The intention of the threat, at least
in origin, is much the same as that of the violation: the hearer
is meant to imagine himself as the victim of a sexual attack.
Such threats tend to deteriorate into empty verbiage. Catullus’
'pedicabo ego uos et irrumabo’ (16.1, 14) scarcely indicates a
real intention on Catullus’ part, but is verbal aggression. 3 That
aggression manifested itself in this way in popular speech is
clear from CIL IV.2254 add. p. 216 'Batacare, te pidicaro’ (sic);
note too the following inscription from Ostia, directed at those
who scribble on walls: -rrdvTts 8iaypd(J)owi, lyu> p,ovos auf&v
typaijia, m>yi£o irdvres tovt[ous of] eiri toCxo ypd<j>owi. 4

Pedico shows signs of a weakening of sense. There is a type
of joke in Pompeian graffiti whereby the reader of the inscrip¬
tion ('he who reads’, or 'I who read’) is said to *be X, or to 'do
X ’, where X represents a sexual term: CIL IV.2360 (= CE 45)
'pedicatur qui leget ... paticus est qui praeterit ... ursi me
comedant, et ego uerpa qui lego’, 4008 'pedic[a]t[u]r qui
legtet]’, 8617 'uerpes [= uerpa es] qui istuc leges’ (see also
below, p. 131). There is a difference between an accusation of
perversion directed against a specific referent, and that di¬
rected against any passer-by. In the second case the sexual
term is used as generalised abuse. Weakening is particularly

1 Examples in V. V&fin&nen, Le latin vulgaire des inscriptions pomp6-
iennes 3 (Berlin, 1966), pp. 89f.

* See Fehling, pp. 18ff., Dover, pp. 104£f., 204.

9 The interpretation of c.16 is not completely clear. For bibliography, see
Fehling, RhM 117 (1974), p. 103 n. 1; add C. W. MacLeod, CQ N.S. 23 (1973),
pp. 300f., Buchheit, Hermes 104 (1976), pp. 331ff., J. Griffin, JRS 66 (1976),
p. 97.

4 See H. Solin, Arctos 7 (1972), p. 195; cf. Fehling, RhM 117 (1974), p. 106.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 125

clear in the graffiti which contain the expression 'pedicatur
qui leget’, if it means 'he who shall read [or 'reads’] this is
suffering pedicatio’. There is no question of a real act in pro¬
gress: the passer-by’s folly in stopping to read the graffito is
tantamount to a metaphorical submission to pedicatio. One
could alternatively take the expression to mean 'he who shall
read this is in the habit of suffering pedicatio’ (i.e. 'he is a
pathicus’). If so the writer has accused someone unknown to
him, and the word would not be taken seriously by readers.
Such jokes show that various sexual terms were thrown
around with little or no thought for their cognitive force. That
does not mean that in other contexts they could not be used
with their proper sense. I shall return to this subject below.

In epigram pedico sometimes occurs in collocations found in
graffiti, though the contexts may differ. With CIL IV.2048
'Secundus pedicaud pueros’ (note the word order), cf. Mart.
7.67.1 'pedicat pueros’ and 11.94.6 'pedicas puerum’; with CIL
IV.2210 'pedicare uolo’, cf. Priap. 38.3 (same phrase and word
order) and also Catull. 21.4 'pedicare cupis’; and with CIL
IV.8805 'Q. Postumius rogauit A. Attium pedicarim’, cf. Aug.
ap. Mart. 11.20.5 f. 'quid si me Manius oret / pedicem, faciam?’.

(iii) Irrumo

Irrumo is by implication classed as obscene by Seneca, Ben.
4.31.4 '(Mamercus Scaurus) Pollioni Annio iacenti obsceno
uerbo usus dixerat se facturum id, quod pati malebat; et cum
Pollionis adtractiorem uidisset ffontem "quidquid” inquit
"mali dixi, mihi et capiti meo” ’ (see below), and its distribution
suggests that its status was much the same as that of futuo
and pedico. There are 6 instances of the verb in the Pompeian
graffiti, 1 and one each of its derivatives irrumabiliter (CIL
IV.1931) 2 and irrumator (1529). For an important inscriptional
example from Ostia, see below, p. 130. In literature irrumo
occurs 6 times in Catullus (16.1, 14, 21.13, 28.10, 37.8, 74.5;
cf. irrumator at 10.12 and irrumatio at 21.8), 5 times in

1 Two of them indexed; see further CIL IV.8790 (?), 10030, 10197,10232.

2 Arrurabiliter at 4126 is conceivably a misspelling of irrumabiliter , with
both vocalic (i > a) and consonantal assimilation (m > r). The translation
offered by A. Richlin, CP 76 (1981), p. 43, n. 6 ('plow - ably’) does nothing to
elucidate the problem. The second syllable is not consistent with a derivation
from aro.

126 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Martial, 1 and 4 times in the Priapea (35.2,5,44.4,70.13). There
is an isolated example in prose at Schol. Juv. 6.51.

Irrumo in etymology reflects the popular obsession among
Latin speakers with a similarity felt between feeding and
certain sexual practices (see pp. 138ff.). It is a denominative
of ruma / rumis, 'teat’, 2 and would originally have meant 'put
in the teat’. For an analogy between 'putting in the teat’ and
an oral sexual practice, one might consult the anecdote told of
Tiberius by Suetonius, Tib. 44.1. Irrumo and fello describe the
same type of sexual act, but from different points of view:
irrumo from the viewpoint of the active violator (= mentulam
in os inserere), fello from that of the passive participant.
Languages do not necessarily make such a lexical distinction.
While fellatio is a widely recognised form of sexual behaviour,
irrumatio is not universally seen as a positive sexual act. But
the distinction was important to Latin speakers, and it gives
rise to a few subtle jokes in the literature. At 3.82.33 Martial
contemplates irrumatio as a punishment for Zoilus, but the
act, he says, would be futile, because Zoilus fellat. Irrumatio
holds no terrors for the fellator. he regards it not as irrumatio,
but as fellatio, which he enjoys. The lexicon of standard Eng¬
lish possesses no straightforward way of expressing the differ¬
ence of attitude and role inherent in the joke 'irrumabo te’.
'fello’. A joke at Plaut. Amph. 348f. appears to be similar: 'ego
tibi istam hodie, sceleste, comprimam linguam. SO. hau potes:
bene pudiceque adseruatur’. The first speaker threatens to
'check the tongue’, i.e. 'silence’ the other. The second seems to
take this as a threat to 'silence’ him by irrumatio, and replies
(in effect) that he does not fellat. In plain Latin the conversa¬
tion could be rewritten in the form ' irrumabo te’. 'non fello’.
Comprimo had a well-established sexual sense in Plautus (=
futuo: see p. 182), which is elsewhere exploited in a double
entendre {True. 262). One who futuit the linguam of another
presumably irrumat (see Mart. 11.40.3 for futuo, with dentes
as implied object, applied to irrumatio). 3 It was a standard joke

1 Always in two early books (2 and 4): see Krenkel, p. 86a. Thereafter Martial
preferred euphemisms.

2 See Emout and Meillet, s.v. ruma, rumis.

3 Some doubt remains about the interpretation of the passage. It is possible
that Plautus simply personified lingua as a woman, and used comprimo in
the secondary sense 'futuo’. Cf. Asin. 292, and see Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini,
pp. 31f.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 127

to speak of irrumatio as a means of silencing someone. An
obvious case is at Mart. 3.96.3 'garris quasi moechus et futu-
tor. / si te prendero, Gargili, tacebis’. Catull. 74.5f. is of the
same type: ’quod uoluit fecit: nam, quamuis inrumet ipsum /
nunc patruom, uerbum non faciet patruos’. Gellius has put a
stop to his uncle’s moralising about illicit affairs by commit¬
ting adultery with the man’s own wife; the uncle’s shame is
such that he dare not speak. Now, even if he suffer the greater
humiliation of irrumatio, he will say nothing. The conclusion
is paradoxical: if he suffers irrumatio, he will not be able to
say anything in any case. Mart. 14.74 presents a variation on
the theme: 'corue salutator, quare fellator haberis? / in caput
intrauit mentula nulla tuum’. The crow was popularly believed
to ore coire (Plin. Nat. 10.32 'ore eos (coruos) parere aut coire
uulgus arbitratur’). But he cannot be a fellator (i.e. irrumatus),
because he is so noisy. There is perhaps a further hint of the
joke at Mart. 12.35.4 'dicere percisum te mihi saepe soles. /

. . . nam quisquis narrat talia plura tacef (Callistratus is a
fellator).

Irrumatio was in general regarded as a hostile and humili¬
ating act, of the sort which one’s enemies might wish to inflict
on one: see CIL IV.10030 'malim me amici fellent quam inimici
irrument’. In Catullus 74 the possible irrumatio of the husband
is viewed as the ultimate humiliation which might befall him.
And at CIL IV. 10232 ('L. Habonius sauciat irrumat Caesum
Felic(e)m’) the juxtaposition of irrumat with sauciat indicates
its aggressive tone. For the most part the object of the verb is
masculine. At Mart. 4.50.2 ('nemo est, Thai, senex ad irru-
mandum’) the poet is in effect threatening the woman. At
4.17.3 ('facere in Lyciscam, Paule, me iubes uersus / quibus
ilia lectis rubeat et sit irata. / o Paule, malus es; irrumare uis
solus’) he is addressing another male, and hence can be indif¬
ferent to the impact of the word on the woman. But at CIL
IV.10197 (if the inscription has been correctly read) irrumo is
apparently used as a neutral term for the active role in the
act (complementing elingo, of the passive role): 'elige, [p]uela.
irumanfti] . .. nuli negant’. 1 For another neutral example, of
the passive (female) role, see Schol. Juv. 6.51 'quia et irru-
mantur mulieres’. Like other obscenities, irrumo would have

1 The editor fills the gap with manu polluenti, but in the illustration given
I can find little justification for this reading.

128 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

derived its tone from the circumstances of utterance. Directed
at a man in public, it would be very offensive indeed. Spoken
to a female in private, when linguistic taboos need not operate,
it might be emptied of its emotive content.

Irrumatio, like pedicatio, was regarded as a means of as¬
serting one’s rank or punishing a malefactor. At Mart. 2.47.4,
for example, it is envisaged as a punishment for adultery;
similarly pedicatio was often threatened against or inflicted
on adulterers, as at Hor. Serm. 1.2.44 (see p. 142), Val. Max.
6.1.13, Mart. 2.60.2; cf. the symbolic act at Catull. 15.19. 1 In
Catullus’ threat at 16.1, 14 irrumabo is coupled with pedicabo.
It is clear from the inscription published by H. Comfort at
AJA 52 (1948), pp. 321 f. ('irumo te, Sex(te)’, with present for
future) that threats of irrumatio would have been heard in
vulgar speech. The hyperbolical character of Catull. 37.7 f.
('non putatis ausurum / me una ducentos inrumare sessores?’)
implies that the threat was a substitute for action, though
none the less aggressive for that. Exaggeration is part and
parcel of linguistic aggression. An anonymous senator was
able to take up Caesar’s innocent remark, made in the senate,
'proinde ex eo insultaturum omnium capitibus’ (Suet. Iul.
22.2), and interpret it as a threat to inflict irrumatio on all his
opponents: 'ac negante quodam per contumeliam facile hoc ulli
feminae fore’.

For other examples of the threat, see Catull. 21.7f. 'nam
insidias mihi instruentem / tangam te prior inrumatione’ (cf.
21.13 'quare desine, dum licet pudico, / ne finem facias, sed
inrumatus’), Priap. 35.5 'pedicaberis irrumaberisque’, 44.3f.
'deprensos ego ter quaterque fures / omnes, ne dubitetis, ir¬
rumabo’. It is often phrased differently: e.g. CIL IV. 1854 'Cal-
iste, deuora’, 5396 'Ccossuti [sic], fela ima’, Mart. 3.83.2 'fac
mihi quod Chione’, Priap. 13.2 'percidere puer, moneo: futuere
puella: / barbatum furem tertia poena manef (compare the ter¬
minology at CIL XI.7263 'inuide, qui spectas, hec tibi poena
manet’; the illustration is missing), 22.2 'caput hie praebeat’,
28.5 'altiora tangam’, 59.2 'si fur ueneris, impudicus exis’ (cf.
Catull. 21.12f. above); cf. Mart. 3.96.3 above.

Aggressive though the threat might have been in the appro¬
priate context (as in the passages of Catullus above), one
cannot but notice that it was deteriorating into a joke. It is

1 See Fehling, pp. 21f.

129

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts

sometimes motivated by the mildest of offences of a non-sexual
kind, as at Mart. 3.83.2 (cf. 3.82.33, not strictly a threat but
a contemplated irrumatio, which can be treated as an implied
threat). The threat, implied rather than openly expressed, pro¬
vides a source of humour at Plaut. Amph. 348f., Mart. 3.82.33,
3.96.3 and Suet. Iul. 22.2 (cf. Catull. 74.5f. and CIL IV.2360,
discussed below, for joking allusions of different types to the
practice). 1 Annius Pollio’s shocked response to such aggression
is presented at Sen. Ben. 4.31.4 as an abnormality. 2 These
passages, along with the manifest exaggeration at Catull.
37.7f., indicate that speakers tended not to take irrumatio
seriously. Even if there were no other evidence on the matter,
one could say that conditions were ideal for a weakening of
sense to occur. The repetition of a threat which is never carried
out, and which is uttered on the flimsiest of excuses, will in
due course cause it to be treated as no worse than non-specific
aggression, and some speakers may become unaware of its
original meaning. One can never be sure, even in a modern
language, that all speakers are ignorant of the etymology of
a threatening sexual term. But if they throw it around in
contexts in which its cognitive force is not an issue, one can
legitimately speak of a form of deterioration of sense.

A vacuous curse at CIL IV.2360 = CE 45 ('ursi me comedant
et ego uerpa(m) qui lego’) further demonstrates that irrumatio
had degenerated into a source of jest. On Housman’s interpret¬
ation (sc. comedam), 3 the reader is made to wish irrumatio on
himself. In effect the only irrumatio which he is in danger of
suffering is that constituted by his stupidity in reading the
whole of the inscription. I should not wish to maintain that a
reader would be ignorant of the meaning of uerpam comedam-,
but in the context he would surely have treated the impreca¬
tion as equivalent to 'I have been fooled’.

The metaphorical use of irrumo can be illustrated from Ca¬
tullus. Despite the graphic detail at 28.9f. ('O Memmi, bene
me ac diu supinum / tota ista trabe lentus inrumasti’), Catul¬
lus does not mean that a sexual act took place. While on the

1 Richlin’s generalisation, CP 76 (1981), p. 43, 'the general threat is made
by an irrumator who is claiming to be enormously virile; he sneers at his
irrumated victim as effeminate, or at best emasculate’, is something of an
exaggeration.

2 See Housman, Classical Papers, p. 733.

3 Classical Papers, p. 1179.

130 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

staff of Memmius he was treated with contempt (he was unable
to enrich himself in the usual way), and he describes this ill
treatment metaphorically as irrumatio (cf. 28.12f. 'nam nihilo
minore uerpa / farti estis’: Veranius and Fabullus were also
badly treated on the staff of Piso). 1 So at 10.12 Catullus calls
Memmius an irrumator for the same reason (note line 13 'nec
faceret pili cohortem’, which indicates the force of irrumator).
When someone threatens irrumatio against another he is not
speaking metaphorically, because, although he may have no
intention of carrying out the threat, the act can be envisaged
by both hearer and speaker as a possibility (at least up to the
point when the threat becomes totally banal). But if he de¬
scribes as irrumatio a non-sexual action which has already
occurred, that action is by implication likened to irrumatio,
and a metaphor has been used. The violence of the language
is meant to convey only the strong disgust or resentment of
the speaker; the sexual term has certainly been emptied of its
full force. 2

If further evidence were needed that irrumo was capable of
losing its proper sense, it is provided by an inscription on a
wall of the room of the Seven Sages at Ostia: 'amice fugit te
prouerbium bene caca et irrima medicos’. 3 The hearer is not
being instructed literally to irrumare the doctors. He is told to
bene caca, which act will in effect constitute an irrumatio.
Irruma is a non-sexual (metaphorical) expression of contempt;
its equivalent in English would be fuck the doctors.

(iv) Fello

Fello was in origin not inherently sexual, and there are occa¬
sional neutral examples attested (Varro Men. 261, 476, Ma-
crob. Sat. 7.16.25, Cael. Aurel. Acut. 2.21). The one Romance
reflex (Abruzz. fellat% 'young sheep’) suggests that the verb
had a lingering tendency to be used in an innocent sense. But
in extant Latin it is largely specialised in the sexual meaning,
in which its distribution is much the same as that of the other
basic obscenities. Fello = 'commit fellatio' would originally

1 These passages are discussed by Housman, Classical Papers, p. 1180.

2 The remarks of Richlin, CP 76 (1981), p. 42, on the alleged absence of
weakening of the Latin primary obscenities, can be disregarded.

2 See G. Caiza, Die Antike 15 (1939), p. 103 for the inscription.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 131

have been a metaphor, since the primary sense of the verb was
not 'suck’ in general, but 'suck the teat’. 1 The image is exactly
the same as that in irrumo. In the historical period users of
fello as a sexual term are unlikely to have interpreted it as
metaphorical.

The sexual use of fello is common in graffiti. In the Index to
CIL IV it appears 37 times, and in the Supplements I have
noted another 18 examples. Fellator is cited 17 times in the
Index to CIL IV, and fellatrix 4 or 5 times. In literature fello
is found in epigram (Catullus, Martial), but excluded from
satire. The one example in Catullus (59.1 'Rufa Rufulum fel-
lat’) illustrates Catullus’ habit of taking up formulae from the
low sexual language: cf. CIL IV. 1427 'Saluia felat Antiocu
luscu’. Martial has fello 11 times, and fellator 5 times. The
example at 9.4.4 ('non fellat tanti Galla’) is reminiscent of
graffiti in which the price of fellatio is given (e.g. CIL IV. 1969
'Lahis felat a(ssibus) II’; cf. 5408). There are also single ex¬
amples of fello and fellator in Ausonius ( Epigr. 79.7, p. 341 P.,
78.3, p. 341).

Like other obscenities, fello could, at least in the world of
prostitution, be used as a neutral technical term. Various graf¬
fiti record praise of female practitioners of the art: CIL IV.
2273 'Murtis bene felas’, 2421 'Rufa ita uale, quare bene felas’.
The practice was particularly degrading for a man (note Mart.
7.67.14, of a tribas : 'non fellat - putat hoc parum uirile -, / sed
plane medias uorat puellas’), and there is no doubt that fellator
directed at a man, or fellat, could be an emotive term of abuse. 2

Fello, like pedico, is found in jokes of the type, 'he who reads
this, X’, in which it sheds its proper force to some extent. See
CIL IV.8230 'quisquis in catedra sederit, dabit uini )II. qui
lego felo, sugat qui legit’ ('I who read this commit fellatio, and
let anyone who reads it suck’, or 'I who read this am a fellator’).
On the first interpretation the implication of 'qui lego felo’
would be roughly 'I who read this am taken in, fooled’. On the
second, the charge which the reader makes against himself
would not be taken literally. The inscription is also notable for
the use of sugo = fello. Fello leaves little trace in the Romance

1 See Emout and Meillet, s.v. fecundus. The non-sexual examples cited above
have this meaning.

2 Various relevant examples can be found in the collection of graffiti given
by Krenkel, pp. 85ff.

132 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

languages (see above); it was replaced by sugere, *suctiare and
*suculare. Another inscription of much the same type is CIL
IV. 1623 (with add. p. 209) 'et qui scripit felat’ ('he who writes
(on this wall?) commits fellatio’). CIL IV.8400 'moue te, fella-
tor’ ('shift yourself, fellatod) was presumably aimed at any
bystander, and is likely to have been intended as empty abuse.

By the time that laecasin (< \au<d£et,v, = fellare) entered
Latin, it had become a generalised expression of contempt (see
below, p. 134). 1

The phenomenon of weakening, which has been referred to
often in the preceding pages, requires further comment. Sexual
terms may have cognitive (literal) or connotative (emotive)
force. The two qualities are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes
a word may lose its cognitive sense entirely, and develop into
an empty abusive term (Fr. con, Eng. sucker). But it is more
common for the cognitive and connotative uses to coexist, with
the implication of the word determined by the context. In
English both bugger and bastard can retain their literal sen¬
ses, but as terms of abuse they are purely emotive. In extant
Latin sexual words are often weakened into connotative terms,
but they kept (in the appropriate context) their cognitive force.
There is no evidence that the meaning of any sexual word was
forgotten entirely, if one excludes the loan-word laecasin.

The extent to which a sexual term aimed abusively at a
person retains its cognitive force depends partly on the pro¬
clivities of the referent. The use of impudicus at Catull. 29.2
('quis hoc potest uidere, quis potest pati, / nisi impudicus et
uorax et aleo, / Mamurram habere quod Comata Gallia / ha-
bebat ante et ultima Britannia’) had some applicability to
Caesar, in view of certain charges which were made against
him (Suet. Iul. 49). The word has some cognitive force.

But if a sexual term is applied to a person in a context in
which a sexual act is not at issue, and if there is no reason to
associate the referent with any such act, the connotative force
will come to the fore. At Catull. 10.24 ('hie ilia, ut decuit
cinaediorem, / "quaeso” inquit mihi "mi Catulle, paulum / is-
tos commoda” ’) cinaediorem is used in reference to a woman
in a non-sexual context, in which it certainly cannot be given
its proper force. It means no more than 'shameless’. KotTamrywv

1 On \au<d£u), see Shipp, Antichthon 11 (1977), pp. If., Jocelyn, PCPhS 206
(1980), pp. 12fF.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 133

was also so weakened (note TrayKaTcimrYov at Aristoph. Lys.
137, of women). 1 An expression in the flagitatio at Catull. 42 is
more difficult to interpret. The woman who has refused to
return Catullus’ pugillaria (5) is addressed in the refrain as
moecha putida. Catullus has made a specific charge of a non-
sexual kind, and for extra effect thrown in a sexual term which
has nothing to do with the original accusation. Only if the
subject of the poem was known to Catullus’ readers as a moe¬
cha could the word have any cognitive force. But she is not
named. One cannot be sure that the arrangement of the poems
would not have made her identity clear. Nevertheless when a
sexual word is irrelevant to its context, as here, it will tend to
take on some connotative force, whatever the reputation of the
referent.

It is particularly obvious that a sexual term is not literally
applicable to its referent if it is directed at a person unknown
to the writer. When a graffitist calls the reader of his scribble
a uerpa (CIL IV.8617 'uerpes qui istuc leges’), he is simply
displaying a humorous aggression towards passers-by, some of
whom will be female. Cf. CIL IV. 2360 'paticus est qui prae-
terit’, 7089 'imanis metula es\

Slightly different again are the expressions 'pedicatur qui
leget’ (CIL IV.2360, 4008), 'bene caca et irrima medicos’ (see
above), 'qui lego felo’ (CIL IV.8230), and certain examples of
irrumo and its derivatives in Catullus. The metaphorical use
of obscenities (cf. Catull. 36.1, 20 'Annales Volusi, cacata car¬
ta’) can be treated as a form of weakening. It is significant
that futuo is not used in this way. An act of fututio was not as
a rule spoken of as a humiliation to its victim, and hence a
non-sexual humiliation was not readily likened to fututio. It
is presumably because futuo retained its full cognitive force
that it lived on into the Romance languages. Irrumo, pedico
and fello disappeared (if one excludes the single reflex of fello,
based on the literal sense). One may conjecture that in Vulgar
Latin they were eventually emptied of proper force to such an
extent that they had to be replaced. Languages need a word
meaning the same as pedico (if not irrumo).

The weakening of sexual verbs caused by their appearance
in threats deserves special mention. A threat to inflict a sexual
violation is more likely to be taken seriously by an intimate

1 On the weakening of KaTairOywv, see Dover, pp. 113f., 143.

134 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

of the speaker than by an enemy or a stranger. A man might
be regarded as having the opportunity to pedicare his own
wife; the hearer of such a threat might assign to it more
cognitive force than he would to a threat aimed at a passer¬
by. When Mamercus Scaurus threatened to irrumare Annius
Pollio (Sen. Ben. 4.31.4), the offence he caused was no doubt
due to friendship between the two men. On the other hand the
same threat seems to have been thrown around against ene¬
mies, real or imagined, without being taken seriously. I would
suggest that the more often a threat is made against enemies
or strangers, without the intention or hope of fulfilment, the
less will be its cognitive force. It would also seem to me to be
a good sign of its deterioration into a vacuous manner of speak¬
ing, if it tends to be motivated even by trifling offences, which
the speaker would not seriously think of avenging by a gross
sexual violation. The total loss of cognitive force by a sexual
term in a threat is exemplified by laecasin at Petron. 42.2
('frigori laecasin dico’) and Mart.- 11.58.12 ('sed lota mentula
lana / \aiKd^€iv cupidae dicet auaritiae’), where it is directed
at abstractions. In this syntagm, the syntax of which is Greek,
the verb is obviously a popular borrowing. The weakening
would already have taken place in Greek.

It has to be conceded that it is difficult to analyse the various
types of 'weakening’ in sexual words. It is often impossible to
tell how important the cognitive element in a sexual term of
abuse is to its user. Inscriptional contexts are frequently
uninformative.

(v) Lingo

Lingo was not inherently obscene. It is common in the histor¬
ical period in non-sexual applications. But it had a well-estab¬
lished use in reference to oral stimulation of the sexual organs
(mentula, cunnus and cuius are all recorded as objects of the
verb), and in this sense it had no doubt acquired an offensive
tone. It was the vox propria for the practice of cunnilinctio. As
a sexual term lingo has much the same distribution as fello,
etc.: it is found in graffiti and epigram, but avoided in satire
and other literary genres.

The index to CIL IV gives 25 examples of the verb. Catullus
has it twice (in the elegiac epigrams), with cuius as object
(97.12, 98.4). For this expression in graffiti, see CIL IV.4954.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 135

Martial uses it 13 times (note the formula cunnurn lingere,
e.g. 1.77.6, 2.84.3: see below), and there is an example in the
epigrams of Ausonius (78.4, p. 341). It is possible that it was
not as obscene as other primary obscenities. Ausonius never
uses mentula, cunnus, futuo, pedico or cuius, but he does have
fello and fellator once (and also podex). The impact of lingo in
particular and fello may have been softened by their continued
possession of more general senses. But the tendency of fello to
be specialised to the sexual sphere is far more marked than
that of lingo.

The uses of lingo are illustrated at CIL IV.2400: 'Satur noli
cunnum lingere extra porta set intra porta, rogat te Artocra
ut sebi lingeas mentulam’. Cunnum comes before lingere, but
mentulam comes after the verb. In graffiti cunnum regularly
has this position in relation to lingo, as at CIL IV.763, 2081,
3925, 4264, 4995, 8698, 8898, 8939, 8940; for the reverse order,
see 1578, where the verb is imperative. Mentulam, on the
other hand, also comes after the verb at 8512 (and after oblingo
at 760). Mentulam is much rarer as object of lingo than is
cunnum. The difference of word order, and the differing fre¬
quency of the two phrases, show that cunnum lingere was the
older phrase. It had obviously come into use at the time when
the order object + verb was regular, whereas lingere mentulam
must belong to a later period when the basic order was chang¬
ing. The compound cunnilingus (CIL IV.4304, 5365, Mart.
4.43.11) reflects the long-standing currency of the phrase cun¬
num lingo.

Lingo mentulam is not an otiose synonym of fellare. Fellare
is not as a rule used with an anatomical term as object; lingo
mentulam on the other hand is used when the writer needs to
specify the nominal object of the action, as at CIL IV.2400,
where there is a contrast between cunnum and mentulam +
lingere. For mentulam (or an equivalent) + lingere in litera¬
ture, see Mart. 7.55.6, 9.40.4.

Two compounds of lingo are used in a sexual sense at CIL
IV.760 'oblige mea, fela ... mentlam elinges ... destillatio
me tenet’. The most usual meaning of the compounds later is
'eat by licking up’. 1 It is possible that the graffito displays the
metaphor of 'eating 1 the genitalia (see below, p. 140).

1 See TLL V.2.390.41ff„ IX.2.96.36ff.

136

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(vi) Lambo

Lambo was not an obscenity, but I include it here because it
was synonymous with lingo. Its association with sexual behav¬
iour was weak. The index to CIL IV gives no examples of the
verb. The vast majority of cases quoted in the TLL are non-
sexual, and those which do have a sexual meaning are in
writers prone to euphemism (but note Mart. 2.61.2, 3.81.2). 1
Juvenal, who avoids lingo, uses lambo (2.49 'Tedia non lambit
Cluuiam nec Flora Catullam’). Ausonius, who uses lingo only
once in the epigrams, has lambo at 78.1, p. 341 P., 82.2, p. 343,
83.1, p. 343, 86.1, p. 344. Both examples of lambo in Martial
are used in conjunction with lingua-, he was presumably avoid¬
ing the jingle lingo + lingua. It is an indication that lambo
had no well-established sexual use that it was not specialised
but applied indifferently to stimulation of the cunnus (Juv.
2.49, Auson. Epigr. 82.2, p. 343 P., Claud. Carm. Min. 43.7,
44.8) or mentula (Mart. 2.61.2, 3.81.2, Auson. Epigr. 78.1,
p. 341 P.).

On the use of lambo at Juv. 9.5, see p. 140.

(vii) Criso and ceueo

Latin possessed two technical terms for types of sexual motion
(in both cases that of the passive partner), criso and ceueo. 2
Criso indicated the motions of the female in intercourse: note
ps.-Acron Hor. Serm. 2.7.50 'idest dum ego iaceo supinus et
ipsa supra me crisat’, and cf. Juv. 6.322 'ipsa Medullinae fluc-
tum crisantis adorat’, Priap. 19.4 'crisabit tibi fluctuante lum-
bo’ (cf. Mart. 10.68.10, 14.203.1). 3 The passage in ps.-Acron
should not be taken as implying that criso was appropriate
only to the schema with the woman astride.

Ceueo was used of the corresponding movements of the male
pathic (cf. ceuulus = 'pathic’, CGL 11.357.20): Schol. Pers. 1.87

1 See TLL V11.2.899.35ff.

2 On ceueo, see Mussehl, Hermes 54 (1919), pp. 387ff.; cf. Fraenkel, Kleine
Beitr&ge zur klassischen Philologie, II, pp. 45ff.

3 The comparison of lascivious movements with the motions of the waves
which is implicit in two of these passages was conventional: cf. Apul. Met. 2.7
'decenter undabat’, Amob. Nat. 2.42 'clunibus et coxendicibus subleuatis lum-
borum crispitudine fluctuaret’, 5 44 'illis fluctibus, quos super aggerem tumuli
Semeleiae subolis urigo contorsit’, 7.33 'clunibus fluctuare crispatis’. Cf. Lucr.
4.1077.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 137

'molles et obscaenos clunium motus significat’. Note too the
equivalence at Juv. 2.21 'de uirtute locuti / clunem agitant.
"ego te ceuentem, Sexte, uerebor?” and cf. Mart. 3.95.13 'sed
pedicaris, sed pulchre, Naeuole, ceues’. Cf. CIL FV.4977, Pers.
1.87, Juv. 9.40.

Ceuentinabiliter at CIL IV.4126 (Trebonius Eucini ceuen-
tinabiliter arrurabiliter’) and 5406 ('inclinabiliter ceuentina¬
biliter’) is presumably equivalent to the present participle
ceuens. Strictly it would appear to be formed on an extended
*ceuentinare, but the ending -inabiliter may simply have been
taken from the associated inclinabiliter and attached to the
participial stem ceuent-. 1

Criso and ceueo, like the primary obscenities mentula, cun-
nus, futuo, etc., had no more basic meaning in recorded Latin.
But their presence in Persius and Juvenal, who excluded the
other obscenities, implies that they were not as offensive as
mentula etc. Criso is even used by Donatus (Ter. Eun. 424),
who would not have admitted a word of the status of futuo. A
common type of euphemism is that which refers to a concom¬
itant action, such as the movements of copulation (see p. 193),
rather than to sexual penetration itself. Though criso and
ceueo were not used of movements other than sexual, it may
have been less offensive to speak in direct terms of such move¬
ments than of the active partner’s role in the act (futuo ,
pedico).

Amobius uses crispo ('wave, brandish’) and crispitudo in
contexts describing lascivious movements (Nat. 2.42, 7.33,
quoted at p. 136 n. 3). The phonetic similarity of crispo to criso
would surely have caused the reader to think of criso. Phonetic
suggestiveness of this kind is typical of sexual innuendo. At
frg. 168 Lindsay ('ipsa sibi auis mortem creat’), in an allusion
to a proverb which contained coco (Isid. Etym. 12.7.71 'unde et

1 There is a remarkable group of - biliter adverbs in graffiti, in which the
adverbial termination seems in some cases to have been weakened into the
equivalent of a present participle or ablative of the gerund: see G. N. Olcott,
Studies in the Word Formation of the Latin Inscriptions (Rome, 1898), p. 209.
Note festinabiliter (CIL IV.4758), fratrabiliter (659), and in sexual slang ir-
rumabiliter (1931) and inclinabiliter (above at 5406, and also 1322 (1332a)
= 3034c, add. p. 466; for inclino in a sexual sense, see p. 192). Amabiliter
(2032; cf. 2374, and Petron. 113.1 'uultumque suum super ceruicem Gitonis
amabiliter ponente’) may have provided the analogy for the sexual coinages
in the vulgar language.

138 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

prouerbium apud antiquos erat, "malum sibi auem cacare” V
Plautus avoided the offensive caco, but selected a word with
the same initial sound and the same number of syllables. 2
Macrobius quotes a joke by the painter L. Mallius in which
fingo implies futuo partly because of its initial f: Sat. 2.2.10
'apud L. Mallium, qui optimus pictor Romae habebatur, Ser-
uilius Geminus forte cenabat, cumque filios eius deformes uid-
isset, "non similiter”, inquit, "Malli, fingis et pingis”. et
Mallius "in tenebris enim fingo”, inquit, "luce pingo” ’.

2. Metaphors

There is an almost complete overlap between metaphors for
fututio and pedicatio in Latin, just as non-metaphorical eu¬
phemisms for the two acts overlap. Even the obscenities futuo
and pedico are not rigidly distinguished. 1 have made no con¬
sistent attempt to distinguish metaphors equivalent to futuo
from those equivalent to pedico. The one remarkable metaphor
for oral activities in Latin (that of eating) is included along
with those for fututio and pedicatio. I begin at the lower end
of the stylistic scale.

(i) 'Eat’

The metaphor of 'eating 1 has surprising ramifications in the
sexual sphere in Latin. It occurs in graffiti, and must have had
a place in low slang. From slang it was taken over into literary
genres which had a vulgar or coarse element (notably epi¬
gram). A few parallels can be quoted from Greek, but the
metaphor was not literary in Latin. It had two main applica¬
tions, the first relatively unimportant.

The cuius or cunnus is sometimes personified and described
as 'eating’ or 'devouring’ the mentula. The verb uoro seems to
have been the appropriate term in this sense: Catull. 33.4 'culo
. . . uoraciore’, Mart. 2.51.6 'infelix uenter spectat conuiuia
culi, / et semper miser hie esurit, ille uorat’, 12.75.3 'pastas
glande natis habet Secundus’ (glans is ambiguous: see p. 72).
There is an extension of this type of imagery at Auson. Cent.

1 See Otto, p. 52.

2 See Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini, p. 440.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 139

Nupt. 118, p. 217 P., where the mentula 'drinks’: 'haesit uir-
gineumque alte bibit acta cruorem’. Bibit was probably an ad
hoc metaphor, facilitated by the tendency for the mentula to
be personified. For Greek note the jokes at Aristoph. Ach.
801f., where Dicaeopolis asks if the pig (= kwOos) eats chick
peas and figs (= ireos): rptoyoiT’ av epe(3Cv9cax;; . . . t£ Sat;
<j>iPd\€tos iaxaSas.

But usually the metaphor is applied to oral acts: the sexual
organ of either sex is said to be 'eaten’. The usage is found in
graffiti: CIL IV.1854 'Caliste, deuora’, 1 IV.1884 'qui uerpam
uissit, quid cenasse ilium putes?’ ('he who went to visit the
uerpa, what would you think he had for dinner?’), 2 IV.2360
'ursi me comedant et ego uerpa qui lego’; 3 cf. esurio ('want to
eat’) in the context of fellatio at CIL IV. 1825 'Cosmus equitaes
magnus cinaedus et fellator esuris apertis mari(bus)’,
XI.6721.34 'esureis et me felas’. 4 5 See further Catull. 28.12f.
'nam nihilo minore uerpa / farti estis’ (farcio is typically ap¬
plied to stuffing with food), 6 80.6 'grandia te medii tenta uorare
uiri’, 88.8 'demisso se ipse uoret capite’, Mart. 7.67.15 'sed
plane medias uorat puellas’ (= cunnum lingere), 14.70.2 'si uis
esse satur, nostrum potes esse Priapum; / ipsa licet rodas in-
guina, purus eris’. In three of the above passages it is a uerpa
which is 'eaten’; to 'eat the uerpa’ was obviously a slang
expression.

There may be an allusion to the metaphor in Mart. 3.77.
Baeticus, the cunnilingus (see 3.81), is described as rejecting
delicious and eating foul food. In the final line (10) he is asked
why he eats what is putrid ('ut quid enim, Baetice, sapro-
phagis?’). There may be a double entendre in the last word:
Baeticus 'eats’ the cunnus (cf. Auson. Epigr. 86.1, p. 344 P.
'uxoris grauidae putria inguina’), and hence has a need of foul
and pungent foods to conceal his bad breath.

The verb which Juvenal uses at 10.223 is unusual, perhaps
because he wanted to avoid the slang terms associated with
the image (notably uoro and uerpa): 'quot longa uiros exorbeat

1 For this inscription, see Svennung, in Studi in orwre di Luigi Castiglioni
(cited above, p. 65, n. 5), II, p. 978 n. 13.

2 For uerpa used pars pro toto, see p. 13.

3 On the interpretation of the inscription, see above, p. 129, and n. 3.

4 On these inscriptions, see Krenkel, p. 83; see also esurit at Mart. 2.51.6
above, p. 138.

5 See TLL VLl.280.31ff.

140

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

uno / Maura die’. 1 Cf. 6.126 'ac resupina iacens cunctorum
absorbuit ictus’ (or is it the cunnus which absorbuit here?: cf.
Hor. Serm. 2.7.49 'quaecumque excepit turgentis uerbera cau-
dae’). Note too the double entendre at Juv. 9.5 'nos colaphum
incutimus lambenti crustula seruo’. 2 A protracted example of
the metaphor is provided by Tertullian, Apol. 9.12 'minus
autem et illi faciunt, qui libidine fera humanis membris in-
hiant, quia uiuos uorant? minus humano sanguine ad spurci-
tiam consecrantur, quia futurum sanguinem lambunt? non
edunt infantes plane, sed magis puberes’. Tertullian permitted
himself drastic phraseology here.

The note 'siue membrum uirile’ on colyphium at Juv. 2.53
('luctantur paucae, comedunt coloephia paucae’) may be based
on a belief that comedunt has a sexual sense.

Krenkel (p. 84) draws attention to a few passages in which
voyeurs are said to 'devour boys with their eyes’: Mart. 1.96.12
'sed spectat oculis deuorantibus draucos’, 9.59.3 'inspexit
molles pueros oculisque comedit’. Given the established sexual
sense of the verbs, these passages might have implied to some
readers that the subjects were doing the next best thing to
devouring with their mouths. For lascivious eyes described as
doing what is normally done by the sexual organs, see p. 143
on Pers. 1.18 'patranti fractus ocello’.

The predominating sense of ligurio (like that of elingo and
oblingo : see p. 135) was 'eat by licking up’ (Hor. Serm. 1.3.81,
2.4.79) rather than 'lick’ in general (lingo). When the verb is
applied to a sexual act, it may be akin to, if not identical with,
the above usages: see Atell. inc. nom. rel. 4 Ribbeck 'hircus
uetulus capreis naturam ligurrit’, Suet. Gramm. 23.6 'uis tu,
inquit, magister, quotiens festinantem aliquem uides abligu-
rire’. Note too Cic. Dom. 47 'hanc tibi legem Cloelius scripsit
spurciorem lingua sua, ut interdictum sit cui non sit interdic¬
tum? Sexte noster, bona uenia, quoniam iam dialecticus es et
haec quoque liguris . . Whether or not the text is right, 3 the
context (note 'spurciorem lingua sua’) and the presence of quo¬
que (which shows that the referent was a 'licker up’ of some-

1 For Maura the fellatrix, see Courtney, p. 297 (on 6.307-8).

2 See Courtney, p. 428 'Lambere is wittily used both of slaves who lick the
morsels . . . and in the obscene sense’. In that obscene sense there is present
a notion of'eating’, or 'eating by licking’.

3 See R. G. Nisbet, M. Tulli Ciceronis De dome sua ad pontifices oratio
(Oxford, 1939), ad loc.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 141

thing else apart from what is implied in dialecticus ) make it
likely that the verb is intended to have a sexual implication.
Cf. ligurritor (Auson. Epigr. 87.1, p. 344 P.). Catull. frg. 2 ('de
meo ligurrire libido est’) may also be obscene.

At Pompon. 151 ('ego quaero quod comedim, has [= hae ?]
quaerunt quod cacent: contrariumst’) and Novius 6 ('quod ed-
itis, nihil est: si uultis quod cacetis, copia est’) comedim and
editis may be metaphorical (see p. 172). And at Priap. 70.10-
14 and 78, though the metaphor is not explicit, there is an
association on the one hand between hunger and irrumatio
(hungry dogs will suffer irrumatio) and on the other between
eating food (78.1 escam) and cunnilinctio.

A few other examples of the metaphor given by Krenkel are
unconvincing. At Mart. 9.63 ('ad cenam inuitant omnes te,
Phoebe, cinaedi. / mentula quem pascit, non, puto, purus homo
est’) Phoebus is not a fellator, l 2 but a professional pedicator (see
1.58). The use to which he puts the mentula (with cinaedi)
provides him with money (1.58.5) or a meal. For the idea, see
Juv. 9.136. And the manner in which Novius 80 ('quid ego
facerem? otiosi [otiose!] rodebam rutabulum’) is cited by Fes-
tus, p. 318 does not favour a sexual interpretation of rodebam
and rutabulum? The quotation comes after a definition of ru¬
tabulum as an implement used 'in proruendo igne, panis co-
quendi gratia’. Festus then says that Naevius (Nauius cod.)
used the word to mean 'obscenam uiri partem’, and gives a
quotation.

For the metaphor in Greek, see Archil, spur. 328.9 West
eKpo^ovvTes fjSovTou -ireos. At Aristoph. Pax 885 tov £cop.ov
cturf|s Trpocnreawv CKXdiJjeTca the idea is of licking up vaginal
secretions rather than 'devouring’ a sexual organ.

The above expressions in Latin should be compared with
fello and irrumo, which, we have seen, were originally meta¬
phors from suckling. There was obviously a long-standing
popular association between oral sexual acts and feeding. To
judge by its use and distribution, the metaphor had a coarse
or vulgar flavour, at least when the verb meant explicitly 'eat,
devour’ (as distinct from 'lick up’).

1 Despite Krenkel, p. 83.

2 Despite Krenkel, p. 79.

142 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(ii) 'Urinate’ and expressions for 'ejaculate’

Verbs meaning 'urinate’ are often used of ejaculation in Latin:
Catull. 67.30 'qui ipse sui gnati minxerit in gremium’, Hor.
Serm. 1.2.44 'hunc perminxerunt calones’ (presumably of ped-
icatio ; the passage deals with the punishment of adulterers,
and anal penetration in various forms is a common punish¬
ment for adultery: see p. 128), Serm. 2.7.52 'ne / ditior aut
formae melioris meiat eodem’, Pers. 6.73 'patriciae inmeiat
uoluae’, Mart. 11.46.2 'incipit in medios meiere uerpa pedes’,
Anth. Lat. 374 tit. 'De Diogene picto, ubi lasciuienti menetrix
barbam euellit et Cupido mingit in podice eius’, ibid. 6 'min-
gitur archisophus’. Note too the marginal gloss 'frequenter
mingebam’ (<t>) on the spurcum additamentum at Apul. Met.
10.21. 1 With these verbal usages should be compared urina =
semen at Juv. 11.170. In Greek p.oix«s ('adulterer’) is the agent
noun corresponding to opeixw 'urinate’. 2 Also worth noting is
the popular etymology of the name Orion: Schol. HPQ to Horn.
Od. 5.121 oi 0eol eiSov rqv pupaotv too o-^a-yevTOS poos Ketp.evqv
KctTO), KOti aupf|oavres ei’s avr-qv cnhow too aopov Kai T-ijs Popaqs
eTTovncxav tov Tlpuova. 3 There is probably a similar idea behind
Juv. 6.64 (see p. 92).

The distribution of the above usages (satire and epigram in
the earlier period) suggests that they had a vulgar ring. They
seem to have been applied particularly to squalid or humili¬
ating sexual acts. It is not plausible to suggest that they reflect
a 'primitive’ failure to distinguish sharply between urine and
sexual secretions. 4 In Latin at least it is more likely that they
would have been interpreted as crudely figurative, or as infan-
tilisms deliberately maintained in vulgar speech. Semen is
sometimes likened to other bodily secretions (e.g. mucus, CIL
IV.1391, tears, Lucil. 307).

It will be convenient at this point to collect other expressions
in Latin used of ejaculation or reaching orgasm, though not
all are metaphorical.

Patro was used elliptically from at least as early as the first
century, = 'accomplish (it)’. There is a particularly clear ex-

1 See Mariotti, p. 240 = p. 59.

2 See J. Wackemagel, Sprachliche Untersuchungen zu Homer (Gottingen,
1916), p. 225, n. 1.

3 See R. Muth, ’Urin’, RE, Suppl. XI, 1292ff., especially 1301, S. Laser,
Gnomon 28 (1956), pp. 613f., Herter, 'Genitalien’, 20f. See also Pokomy, I,

p. 81.

4 See Muth, 1303.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 143

ample at Porph. Hor. Serm. 1.5.84 'deinde per somnium ima-
ginantem se, cum eandem puellam uidisset, concumbere super
se ipsum patrasse’ (of a nocturnal emission, not copulation).
Cf. Pers. 1.18 'patranti fractus ocello’, 1 and perhaps Catull.
29.16 'parum expatrauit an parum helluatus est’. The sense of
the verb is illuminated by the use of patratio ('orgasm’) in
Theodoras Priscianus: Eup. 2.32, p. 130.15 Rose 'satyriasis
. . . tensionem particulae cum assidua patratione auidissimam
facit’ (it is a question of ejaculation, not copulation: cf.
p. 130.8). Isidore ( Etyrn. 9.5.3 'pater autem dictus eo quod pa¬
tratione peracta filium procreet. patratio enim est rei ueneriae
consummatio’) was right to say that patratio indicated consum¬
mation, but if res ueneria means 'sexual intercourse’ it has no
place in the definition. Isidore was bound to offer a false defi¬
nition of patro, given his etymology of pater.

The verb is complemented at Anth. Lat. 358.5 'nec die
quaeris coitum patrare’, but coitum patrare looks like a ra¬
tionalisation of the elliptical idiom. An elliptical euphemism
need not have its origin in the abbreviation of a longer, more
explicit expression. Facio, for example ('do (it)’), scarcely stems
from an expression such as fututionem facio. The hearer had
no doubt been expected to supply his own complement as long
as the usage existed. Quintilian’s remark (8.3.44) that by his
day the Sallustian expression patrare bella had acquired an
obscene implication must mean either that patro had become
so suggestive that it was unusable in polite society in any
collocation, or that, since bella could be used metaphorically
of intercourse, the phrase might be taken to mean 'consum¬
mate sexual wars’. 2

The elliptical use of patro has an exact parallel in that of

1 Here a term strictly appropriate to the mentula has been transferred to the
eye, partly because of the belief that the effects of orgasm or sexual desire
could be seen in the eye: see Juv. 7.241 ’non est leue tot puerorum / obseruare
manus oculosque in fine trementis’ (note in fine, of orgasm: Courtney compares
Mart. 9.69.1 ’cum futuis, Polycharme, soles in fine cacare’; cf. Auson. Cent.
Nupt. 129, p. 217 P., Epigr. 106.16, p. 351). The present participle seems to
have an inceptive or desiderative force, - 'worn out with his eye attempting
to make it’, i.e. dreaming of the pleasures of orgasm or intercourse. For the
eye and sexual desire, see J. C. Bramble, Persius and the Programmatic Satire
(Cambridge, 1974), p. 77, n. 3. Persius was imitated at Anth. Lat. 902.3 'sunt
lusci oculi atque patrantes’.

2 Bramble, pp. 76f. mentions with approval the definition of the Delphin
edition of Persius, 'patrare proprie est mxiSoiTowiv’, and then misquotes the
Sallustian expression in the form patrare bellum. If Quintilian had seen bellus
in the expression, he would have written helium, not bella.

144 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

perficio at HA., Maxim. 4.7 'diceris, Maximine, sedecim et
uiginti et triginta milites aliquando lassasse: potes tricies cum
muliere perficere?’ ('can you make it thirty times with a
woman?’). Perficio perhaps had a place in ordinary speech (note
that it is here used in direct speech). Cf. Mart. 3.79.2 'hunc
ego, cum futuit, non puto perficere’. There was also said to
exist a goddess Perfica, 'quae obscenas illas et luteas uolup-
tates ad exitum perficit dulcedine inoffensa procedere’ (Amob.
Nat. 4.7). With exitus here, compare finis (see p. 143 n. 1), and
Mart. 11.81.4 'sine effectu prurit utrique labor’. Similar to the
above use of perficio is perago (rem) at Marc. Emp. 33.73; cf.
Isid. Etym. 9.5.3 above.

The metaphor of 'reaching a goal’ was used of achieving
orgasm: see Lucr. 4.1195f. 'communia quaerens / gaudia sol-
licitat spatium decurrere amoris', Ovid Ars 2.727 'nec cursus
anteeat ilia tuos; / ad metam properate simul’, Auson. Cent.
Nupt. 128f., p. 217 P. 'iamque fere spatio extremo fessique sub
ipsam / finem aduentabant’ (note finem, and see p. 143 n. 1).
Propero (see Ovid Ars 2.727) seems to have been idiomatic in
much the same sense as Eng. come: see Mart. 1.46.1 'cum dicis
"propero, fac si fads”, Hedyle, languet / . . . Venus’; cf. festino
at Suet. Gramm. 23.6 'uis tu, inquit, magister, quotiens festin-
antem aliquem uides abligurire?’. 1 There is remarkably similar
phraseology to that of Martial on a wall of the room of the
Seven Sages at Ostia. 2 It is impossible to tell what some par¬
tially obliterated figures are doing, but between them they say
'mulione sedes’, 'agita te, celerius peruenies’, 'propero’ and
'amice fugit te prouerbium bene caca et irrima medicos’. The
last remark makes it natural to think that the figures were
pictured in a latrine relieving themselves. But the terminology
has a distinctly sexual appearance. For sedeo used of a sexual
schema, see p. 165. For 'arriving’ {peruenies ), of orgasm, see in
particular aduentabant above. Celerius is reminiscent of uel-
ocius at Mart. 1.46.3 'expectare iube: uelocius ibo retentus’
( ibo here, like propero, is roughly equivalent to Eng. come).
Agito had various sexual uses. With clunes and the like as
object it could be used of the motions of the passive partner in
intercourse (p. 194); and for the meaning ’masturbate’, note
the obscene interpretation of the Virgilian 'incipiunt agitata

1 See Housman, Classical Papers, p. 1184.

2 See Calza, Die Antike 15 (1939), p. 103.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 145

tumescere’ (Georg. 1.357) attributed to Celsus at Quint. 8.3.47.
It is possible that one man was about to commit pedicatio with
another, and that he was urged to employ masturbation to
speed up the act. On this interpretation propero would be a
parallel for Mart. 1.46.1. Even bene caca could have a sexual
implication: cf. CIL X.4483 'caca, ut possimus bene dormire
. . . et pedicare natis Candidas’. If the reference throughout is
to cacatio, propero would still be a similar metaphor to that in
Martial (of hurrying to a different type of goal).

(iii) 'Strike’ and the like

One of the largest semantic fields from which metaphors for
sexual acts were taken in Latin is that of striking, beating
and the like (cf., e.g. Kpoi3(xaTa at Aristoph. Eccl. 257, Kpouw at
990, and -rrpoKpouw at 1017). Metaphors from this semantic
area could be freely coined, but it cannot be doubted that
certain words were in current use.

Caedo was one such metaphor. Used literally it possessed
the senses 'cut’ and 'beat’, either of which might have served
as the basis for a sexual metaphor. The mentula is often de¬
scribed metaphorically as a sharp instrument, and hence its
function might be seen as cutting. But caedo is more commonly
used = 'beat’, and this is the meaning which probably lay
behind the metaphor (although it will be suggested below that
one and the same word can provide different types of sexual
metaphors: see p. 155). Caedo sometimes implies a sexual act
seen as a punishment. In its literal sense 'beat’ the verb in¬
dicated a form of punishment. For a sexual act described in
terms appropriate to a punishment see Mart. 2.60.2 'suppli-
cium tantum dum puerile times’.

At Lucil. 283 ('uxorem caedam potius quam castrem egomet
me’) caedo is a substitute for futuo, but usually it refers to
pedicatio. This partial restriction probably reflects the fact
that pedicatio is more often considered a punishment or hu¬
miliation than is fututio. For pedicatio (expressed by caedo)
inflicted to punish someone, see Catull. 56.7 'deprendi modo
pupulum puellae / trusantem: hunc ego, si placet Dionae, /
protelo rigida mea cecidi’. Catullus had caught a youth

146 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

masturbating. 1 The opportunity for pedicatio was conveniently
presented, but there was an element of punishment in the act. 2
So at Priap. 26.10 ('solebam / fures caedere’) caedo refers to
Priapus’ punishment of thieves. And at Petron. 21.2 it is used
of the humiliation inflicted on Encolpius and Ascyltos by a
homosexual: 'cinaedus . . . modo extortis nos clunibus cecidit,
modo basiis olidissimis inquinauit’. For further examples, see
Laber. 23 'numne aliter hunce pedicabis? - quo modo? / -
uideo, adulescenti nostro caedis hirulam’, Tert. Pall. 4.4 'sed
et qui ante Tirynthium accesserat, pugil Cleomachus, post
Olympiae cum incredibili mutatu de masculo fluxisset, intra
cutem caesus’. 3

Percido (lit. usually of hitting rather than cutting) would
also have had some currency, to judge by its attestation in
inscriptions as well as literary sources: see CIL IV.2319 l
'Tyria percisa, . . . nepKura’, and cf. 2319 e add. p. 217, 2319 p.
These inscriptions, in all of which the referent is a certain
Tyria, show that the word was not used exclusively of pedi¬
catio. But that is its predominating application in literature:
see Mart. 4.48.1 twice, 4, 6.39.14, 7.62.1, 12.35.2, Priap. 13.1,
15.6, and note CGL 11.148.52 'percisus pedicatus [perd. cod.]

1 On the sense of trusantem, see Kroll ad loc., comparing Mart. 11.46.3
'truditur et digitis pannucea mentula lassis’, Housman, Classical Papers,
p. 1176 and Fehling, p. 23 n. 98. Fehling notes that it is impossible to construe
puellae as a dative. Mentulam is understood with trusantem, as with frica at
Mart. 11.29.8 and deglubit at Auson. Epigr. 79.7, p. 341 P. It is worth men¬
tioning here that Shackleton Bailey {CP 71 (1976), p.348) has recently
attempted to revive a conjecture of E. Baehrens, crusantem = crisantem.
Shackleton Bailey also changes hunc to hanc, on the grounds that 'logic . . .
suggests that the object of Catullus’ intervention . . . should be, not the boy,
but his playmate’. Baehrens ( Catulli Veronensis Liber, rev. by K. P. Schulze
(Leipzig, 1893), p. 281) argued that the boy and girl were playing at being
man and wife, but, being ignorant of sexual matters, had adopted the wrong
positions: the girl was on top and the boy was crisantem in the manner of
women {puellae would then be a dative of advantage, like tibi at Priap. 19.4).
There are various objections to this notion: (a) Mart. 11.46.3, a passage appar¬
ently not known by Baehrens, provides a good parallel for the use of trusantem
required here; (b) it was a recognised schema for the female to be astride, and
not one which would suggest a reversal of roles and hence prompt a bizarre
and unparalleled use of criso, of the male; (c) there is no evidence that cruso
was an old form of criso. Hanc is also unsatisfactory. Caedo, we have sug¬
gested, tends to imply a sexual act perpetrated as a punishment. Even if there
is a girl present here, it is the boy who has been caught at some punishable
offence, and the boy who must be punished.

2 See Fehling, p. 24.

3 The phrase intra cutem caesus = intercutitus (see below, p. 147).

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 147

TremryLo-pLevos’. The misspelling in another gloss ( CGL
V.575.43 'pertisis uiolatis’) perhaps has a parallel at CIL
IV.3120 TrepTwr (pertis(-a, -us)?). The example at Mart. 2.72.3
(with os as object) may refer to irrumatio (see below, p. 212).

Concido can mean 'beat’ (Cic. Verr. 3.56, Juv. 3.300), but
the sense 'cut’ lies behind the metaphorical use = pedico at
HA., Hel. 10.5 'nubsit et coit <cum illo it>a, ut et pronubam
haberet clamaretque "concide Magire” ’. Zoticus, with whom
the emperor submitted to a homosexual marriage, was nick¬
named Magirus (pcryeipos, 'cook, butcher’), and the double en¬
tendre here is from the language of butchering. The other
sexual example of the verb (Pompon. 83 'dolasti uxorem: nunc
eapropter me cupis / concidere’) could be based on either literal
meaning, but the presence of dolo suggests that here too the
metaphor was one of cutting.

One metaphor of beating for the currency of which we have
Cicero’s testimony is battuo: Fam. 9.22.4 ' "battuit” inquit im-
pudenter, "depsit” multo impudentius’; cf. Petron. 69.3 'ut ego
sic solebam ipsumam meam debattuere’, in a speech of Tri-
malchio. This second example, like various other graphic
metaphors which will be discussed in the following pages, is
applied to an illicit liaison: the speaker uses the word with a
contemptuous tone in a boast (cf. Eng. bang someone else’s
wife).

Certain other verbs of beating or striking were probably
occasionally used off-the-cuff, but evidence for them is more
fleeting. Percutio is nowhere found with the sense in question.
Percussor is perhaps used in a double entendre in a speech at
Petron. 9.9 'non taces, nocturne percussor, qui ne turn quidem,
cum fortiter faceres, cum pura muliere pugnasti’. The context
is sexual (note pugnasti), but percussor could be an uncon¬
nected term of abuse. The word certainly has a sexual impli¬
cation at Maxim. Eleg. 5.134 'fert taciturn ridetque suum
laniata dolorem / et percussori plaudit arnica suo’. Paulus’
(Festus’) remark, p. 100 'intercutitus uehementer cutitus, hoc
est ualde stupratus’ suggests that he derived intercutitus from
a verb *cutio (with prefix inter-) rather than (correctly) intercus
(for which in a sexual sense see Gell. 13.8.5, Cato Orat. frg.
60; cf. Paul. Fest. p. 98 inter cutem, Tert. Pall. 4.4 quoted
above; for the formation see recutitus). *Cutio he would pre¬
sumably have regarded as the simplex of percutio (despite the
inconsistency between the participial forms). Behind this de-

148 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

rivation is the assumption that percutio might appropriately
be applied to a sexual act. In the Cento Nuptialis Ausonius
uses another compound, recutio, in a sexual sense: 126, p. 217
P. 'itque reditque uiam totiens uteroque recusso / transadigit
costas’ ('striking the womb’ indicates depth of penetration).
Percussorium is given the meaning 'penis’ at CGL V.252.28,
but the metaphor is from music (percussorium = 'plectrum’:
see p. 25).

Tundo and pertundo are not certainly attested as substitutes
for futuo or pedico, 1 but there are indications that they would
have been capable of sexual undertones in a suggestive con¬
text. A goddess Pertunda allegedly played a part in the de¬
flowering of the bride (Tert. Nat. 2.11.12, Amob. Nat. 4.7, Aug.
Ciu. 6.9). The name must be based on a sexual use of pertundo.
The verb appears in a sexual context at Catull. 32.11 ('per¬
tundo tunicamque palliumque’), but it expresses the striking
of the mentula against the writer’s clothing rather than
against the victim of a sexual act. It is a small step from such
a usage to the sense 'futuo’. Hence pulso is used in the same
way as pertundo in Catullus by both Martial (11.16.5 'rigida
pulsabis pallia uena’) and the author of the Priapea (23.5f.
'mentulaque / nequiquam sibi pulset umbilicum’), whereas
Ausonius was able to apply the verb to an act of fututio: Cent.
Nupt. 127, p. 217 P. 'transadigit costas et pectine pulsat
ebumo’.

The simplex tundo is possibly synonymous with futuo at
Catull. 59.5 ('ab semiraso tunderetur ustore’), but it is more
likely that it means 'hit’. Pertunsorium, like percussorium, is
equated with mentula in glosses. If the usage is genuine, it too
was probably a musical metaphor (see p. 25).

For ferio, see Maxim. Eleg. 5.97 (addressed to a mentula )
'quo tibi feruor abit, per quern feritura placebas, / quo tibi
cristatum uulnificumque caput?’. The verb survived with this
sense in Old French. 2 The view that it is also used thus at
Plaut. Bacch. 1174 3 is unconvincing. Cf. icta at Maxim. Eleg.
5.131 'stemitur icta tuo uotiuo uulnere uirgo / et perfusa nouo
laeta cruore iacet’. The noun ictus is used of the male sexual

1 Pertundo at Lucil. 1071 ('nemo istum uentrem pertundet’) could mean
'punch in the belly’. For a sexual interpretation of the verb, see Goldberger
(1932), p. 103, Buchheit, Hermes 90 (1962), p. 253 n. 9.

2 FEW HI, p. 465.

3 See Preston, p. 43.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 149

act at Juv. 6.126 'iacens cunctorum absorbuit ictus’, Anth. Lat.
712.19 'dent crebros ictus’, and in Medieval Latin: William of
Blois, Alda 505 'post crebros igitur ictus sudataque multum /
proelia presudat hausta labore suo’, anon., Baucis et Traso 275
'non noui quid amor, quid amoris sentiat ictus’ (perhaps a
double entendre). 1 Similarly Lucretius uses ictus of the 'blow’
of semen: 4.1245 'aut non tam prolixo prouolat ictu (semen)’,
1273 'atque locis auertit seminis ictum’. Note finally uerbera
at Hor. Serm. 2.7.49 'quaecumque excepit turgentis uerbera
caudae’.

(iv) 'Cut, split, penetrate’ and the like

The podex of Charinus at Mart. 6.37 is so cut that it is unre¬
cognisable: If. 'secti podicis usque ad umbilicum / nullas rel-
liquias habet Charinus’. The joke was possible because a
sexual act is readily likened to cutting (see above, p. 147 on
concido). For Greek see, for example, the punning use of Tepvw
at AjP. 11.262.2 (anon.).

Dolo (lit. 'chip, hew’ with a sharp instrument, usually in
wood), like other verbs of cutting (e.g. caedo, seco), tended to
be weakened into the sense 'beat’ (Hor. Serm. 1.5.23), but the
literal sense, which predominates, probably gave rise to the
following metaphorical use: Pompon. 82 'dolasti uxorem’,
Mart. 7.67.3 'et tentigine saeuior mariti / undenas dolat in die
puellas’, Apul. Met. 9.7 'inclinatam dolio pronam uxorem fabri
superincuruatus secure dedolabat’.

Scalpo (lit. 'chisel, cut away (stone), sculpt’, also 'scratch’)
may refer to pedicatio at Pompon. 76 'praeteriens uidit Dos-
sennum in ludo reuerecunditer / non docentem condiscipulum,
uerum scalpentem nates’. 2 For nates used loosely (= cuius) of
the site of pedicatio, see CIL X.4483 (quoted above, p. 115).
But the inadequate context does not rule out the meaning
'scratch’ (for which, see, e.g. Juv. 9.133), of a homosexual act
perhaps the same as that at Mart. 1.92.2 'tangi se digito,
Mamuriane, tuo’, though the interpretation of the epigram is
problematical. I am inclined to take 11-12 ('non culum, neque

1 Both of these texts are in Cohen. There is a new edition of the Baucis et
Traso by G. Orlandi, Commedie latine del xii e xiii secolo HI (University di
Genova, Pubblicazioni dell’ Istituto di Filologia Classica e Medievale, 1980).
Orlandi prefers ictum (B) to ictus.

2 So Frassinetti, p. 104.

150 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

enim est cuius, qui non cacat olim, / sed fodiam digito qui
superest oculum’) as looking back to 2, and the whole phrase
fodiam digito (rather than fodiam alone) as understood with
culum in 11. Hence Mamurianus would have touched the cu¬
ius, not the mentula, of the boy.

For scindo = futuo, pedico, see Laber. 25 'an concupiuisti
eugium scindere’, Priap. 54.2 'qui medium uult te scindere’,
77.9 'furum scindere podices solebam’. There are various such
metaphors in the sparse fragments of mime and farce. Both
genres must reflect low sexual slang and crude popular hu¬
mour. Some similar metaphors, as we shall see, are found in
Plautus.

There is a pun on a sexual meaning of inforare (cf. Tpinraw
at Theocr. 5.42, Antistius, ATlan. 243.6) at Plaut. Cure. 401f.:
'licetne inforare, si incomitiare non licet? / CV. non inforabis
me quidem, nec mihi placet / tuom profecto nec forum nec
comitium’. Similarly perforo was given a sexual meaning by
the author of the Priapea: 76.3 'deprensos ego perforare pos¬
sum / Tithonum Priamumque Nestoremque’. Note the medi¬
eval expression, Lehmann no. 17, p. 242 'proforasti uxorem
meum’ (sic) (for perforasti ).

Traicio (which often denoted piercing or penetrating by
means of a sharp instrument) is used as an ad hoc metaphor
at Priap. 11.3 'traiectus conto sic extendere pedali’. The ex¬
tending of the image into a second word ( contus ) shows that
the writer was not using banal terminology.

Dirumpo was capable of various sexual senses. At Plaut.
Cas. 326 ('ego edepol illam mediam dirruptam uelim’) the
participle is taken as equivalent to fututam by the next
speaker; for mediam in such a context (= 'split up the middle’),
see Priap. 54.2, above. A formulaic and usually innocent
expression has here been forced to bear a sexual sense (for the
phrase used in its literal meaning, of bursting, see Plaut.
Bacch. 603 'sufflatus ille hue ueniet. PI. dirruptum uelim’). It
was a common form of humour to give proverbs and set phrases
a sexual implication (see p. 34). Dirumpo is used rather more
literally of the effects of an act of fututio on the woman at
Apul. Met. 7.21 ('misera ilia compauita atque dirupta ipsa
quidem cruciabilem cladem sustinuisset’) and 10.22. On the
other hand at Plaut. Cas. 810 ('illo morbo quo dirrumpi cupio,
non est copiae’) the metaphor of bursting is applied to the
effects of sexual desire or activity on the male: for this meta-

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 151

phor in various connections, cf. Prop. 2.16.14 'rumpat ut assi-
duis membra libidinibus’, Hor. Serm. 1.2.118 'malis tentigine
rumpi’, Priap. 23.5 'hac tentigine, quam uidetis in me, / rum-
patur’, 33.5 'sed ne tentigine rumpar’; cf. Catull. 11.20 'sed
identidem omnium / ilia rumpens’, 80.7 'clamant Victoris
rupta miselli / ilia’. Such terminology used of a rupture caused
by sexual excess is not metaphorical (see Varro Men. 192).

At Plaut. Aul. 285f. Cbellum et pudicum uero prostibulum
popli. / post si quis uellet, te hau non uelles diuidi’) Congrio
takes Anthrax’s remark (284 'si quo tu totum me ire uis,
operam dabo’) as sexually significant, and hence gives diuidi
the same meaning as pedicari. Some of Anthrax’s phraseology
was capable of a sexual misinterpretation. For totum, see Mart.
1.92.3 'totum tibi Ceston habeto’ (cf Apul. Met. 10.22, a dif¬
ferent application), and for operam dare, see p. 157. I do not
accept 1 that Petronius has the same metaphorical use of diuido
at 79.12.

Penetrare does not occur in a sexual sense in the Classical
period, but note Leg. Liutprandi 76, p. 138 'uoluntariae adul-
terium penetrauerit’ (cf. 121, p. 158). Here penetrare has been
conflated with perpetrare (for patrare see p. 142). The contam¬
ination is of no wider significance.

The metaphors seen in this section were for the most part
ad hoc coinages, used particularly in mime, farce and Plautine
comedy. They were clearly part of the stock-in-trade of popular
humour.

(v) 'Dig’

For this metaphor (for Greek see opvTreiv at Aristoph. Pax
898), see Juv. 9.45 'seruus erit minus ille miser qui foderit
agrum / quam dominum’, Priap. 52.8 'cum te male foderint
iacentem’, Amob. Nat. 4.7 'uirginalem scrobem effodientibus
maritis’; cf. Auson. Epigr. 77.7, p. 341 P. 'peruersae ueneris
postico uulnere fossor’. At Mart. 1.92.11 (see above, p. 150) the
whole verb-phrase fodiam digito, rather than fodiam alone,
should perhaps be taken with culum in 11. 2 The metaphor was
in vogue in Medieval Latin: Babio 272 'iuro sacras per aras,
non fodit hanc Fodius’, 278 'non fodit hanc Fodius, fodit earn

1 With Pierrugues, s.v., Goldberger, (1932), p. 104.

2 See, however, Citroni, ad loc.

152 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Fodius’, Matthew of Vendome, Milo 68 d 'quo fodiatur ager
non habet, uxor habet’. The presence of nominal metaphors of
an agricultural kind alongside fodio in a number of the above
passages suggests that fodio retained its metaphorical char¬
acter. Excauo ( Priap. 51.4 'usque curuos excauetur ad lumbos’)
is an ad hoc variation on the usual word.

(vi) 'Wound’

This metaphor (usually in a nominal form) is often associated
with the deflowering of a bride (cf. Tpwatis at Heliod. 1.18.5):
Mart. 11.78.6 'dum metuit teli uulnera prima noui’, Priap. 3.8
'quod uirgo prima cupido dat nocte marito, / dum timet alter-
ius uulnus inepta loci’, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 121, p. 217 P. 'altius
ad uiuum persedit uulnere mucro’ (here uulnus comes close to
the sense 'cunnus'), Maxim. Eleg. 5.131 'stemitur icta tuo
uotiuo uulnere uirgo / et perfusa nouo laeta cruore iacet’. But
it is not always thus restricted: cf. CIL IV.10232 'L. Habonius
sauciat irrumat Caesum Felic(e)m’, Auson. Epigr. 77.7, p. 341
P. 'peruersae ueneris postico uulnere fossor’, Maxim. Eleg. 5.98
'quo tibi cristatum uulnificumque caput?’.

Trades and other manual occupations are a constant inspira¬
tion of metaphors for the sexual act in Latin. An example from
the language of butchers has already been given (concido at
If A., Hel. 10.5), and digging could also be classed as a manual
activity. Rural activities are a particularly common source of
sexual metaphors in Latin (see p. 24), partly because the Latin
vocabulary in general is rich in rustic metaphors, and partly
because the fertility of the field and the working of the land
have a sexual symbolism which may be universally recognised.
There follow some metaphors which are based on occupations
of one kind or another. Not all had the same tone.

(vii) 'Grind’

Molo (lit. 'grind wheat into flour in a mill’) had already ac¬
quired a sexual use in Republican Latin (cf. p.v\\cu at Theocr.
4.58). 1 The protracted metaphor at Pompon. 99f. has the woman
explicitly likened to the millstone ( mola) moved by the asinus:

1 Med. Fr. moudre d (FEW VI.3, p. 30) is probably independent of the Latin
metaphor.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 153

'nescio quis molam quasi asinus urget uxorem tuam, / ita op-
ertis oculis simitu manducatur ac molit’. Similarly at Lucil.
278 ('hunc molere, illam autem ut frumentum uannere lumb-
is’) the female as well as the male role is expressed by a rustic
metaphor ( uannere = 'winnow’, of the grain: cf. Lucil. 330
'crisabit ut si frumentum clunibus uannat’). If the context was
sexual at Varro Men. 331 ('sed tibi fortasse alius molit et
depsit’), the metaphorical character of molo would no doubt
have been felt in the presence of depso (see below), but in other
places the metaphor seems to have been banalised: Hor. Serm.
1.2.35 'hue iuuenes aequom est descendere, non alienas / per-
molere uxores’, Auson. Epigr. 79.7, p. 341 P. 'deglubit, fellat,
molitur per utramque cauemam’ (a mixture of metaphors),

82.2, p. 343 'diceris hanc mediam lambere, non molere’; cf.

94.3, p. 347 P. 'cum dabit uxori molitor tuus et tibi adulter’.
At Pompon. 100 and Hor. Serm. 1.2.35 the metaphor is un¬
ambiguously applied to the activities of an adulterer with
someone else’s wife. At Varro Men. 331 alius should be noted
alongside alienas in Horace; and at Lucil. 278 also an act of
adultery may be at issue (see Marx ad loc.). Given this tend¬
ency of the verb to be restricted to the male role in adulterous
liaisons (cf. debattuo at Petron. 69.3 above), it probably had
an offensive tone.

At Petron. 23.5 the sense of molo is different: 'super inguina
mea diu multumque frustra moluit’ (of the activities of a ti¬
nned us). It may be a graphic metaphor for masturbation, or
for the motions of the cinaedus astride Encolpius. At 24.4
distero, which one might have expected to mean the same as
futuo or pedico (see p. 183), has the second sense; on this
analogy one may also take molo thus. There are various meta¬
phorical and other sexual verbs which are not restricted to the
designation of just one type of sexual act (see pp. 185,187).

I have elsewhere argued 1 that the expression reliquiae ali-
cariae at Plaut. Poen. 266 implies a sexual metaphor based on
the grinding of alica.

(viii) 'Knead’

The offensive tone of depso is noted by Cicero at Fam. 9.22.4
' "battuit” inquit impudenter; "depsit” multo impudentius’.
The intensive perdepso at Catull. 74.3 ('patrui perdepsuit

'Words for "prostitute” in Latin’, forthcoming in RhM.

154 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ipsam / uxorem’) is found in the same type of context as the
intensive permolo at Hor. Serm. 1.2.35 above (of intercourse
with another man’s wife). Catullus and Horace were no doubt
drawing on the current vulgar language (cf. perfututor at CIL
IV.4239). It has been noted above that depso may be meta¬
phorical at Varro Men. 331.

Another intensive compound at Pompon. 86 ('partem insipui
conclusi condepsui’) perhaps has a sexual force.

(ix) 'Plough’ and 'sow’

The metaphor of ploughing, in both its nominal and verbal
manifestations, 1 is quite widespread from Plautus onwards (for
Greek, see Soph. Ant. 569 dpoicn,|xoi yotp xuTepwv euriv ywai). 2
There is no evidence from its use or distribution that it was
vulgar or offensive in tone. 3 In Plautus note Asin. 874 'fundum
alienum arat, incultum familiarem deserit’, True. 149f. 'si ar-
ationes / habituris, qui arari solent, ad pueros ire meliust’. If
one introduces arat for amat at Mart. 9.21.4, 4 the metaphor is
the same:

Artemidorus habet puerum sed uendidit agrum;

agrum pro puero Calliodorus habet.
die uter ex istis melius rem gesserit, Aucte:

Artemidorus arat [amat codd.], Calliodorus arat.

A paradox would be introduced, in that Artemidorus still
ploughs (the boy’s ager). There are very similar paradoxes in
12.16 and 12.33. Opus is a double entendre from agriculture
at Plaut. Asin. 873 (see p. 157). For aro in late Latin, see Anth.
Lat. 712.17 'arentque sulcos molles’.

'Sowing’ was a literary metaphor (cf. cnreipo) at, e.g. Soph.
AJ. 1293): Lucr. 4.1107 'muliebria conserat arua’, Tib. 1.8.36
'teneros consent usque sinus’, Aug. Ciu. 14.23 'genitale aruum
uas . .. seminaret’. Note too the double entendre in supersem-
inauit at Lehmann no. 14, p. 228 'inimicus homo qui . ..
superseminauit zizania et cubile meum multa maculauit
perfidia’.

1 For nominal metaphors, see above, pp. 82ff.

1 For verbal metaphors of an agricultural kind in Greek, see Taillardat,
pp. lOOf.

* See Herter, Gnomon 17 (1941), p. 328 on the tone of the corresponding
Greek metaphors.

* See S. Gaselee, CR 35 (1921), pp. 104f.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 155

An agricultural metaphor found in twelfth century comedy
from France was that of reaping ( meto ): see Matthew of Ven-
dome, Milo 184 'cultoris uacat egra manu qui uimina nulla /
falce metit’; cf. uindemio at Lehmann no. 14, p. 229 'uinde-
miant te omnes qui pretergrediuntur uiam’, and the use of
messis = cunnus, ibid.

(x) Subigo, subigito

I mention subigo here because in part its sexual use can be
classed as a metaphor based on a manual activity. But it is
open to different interpretations in different passages. A dis¬
tinction must be made between subigo and subigito. Subigo
was used of the active role in homosexual or heterosexual
intercourse, in which sense it was probably established in
ordinary speech. Subigito (in comedy) had a weaker sense.

Subigo is found in a soldiers’ song quoted by Suetonius, Iul.
49.4 ('Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem: /. . . Ni-
comedes non triumphat qui subegit Caesarem’), at Epigr. Bob.
24.2 ('deformis uxor cui sit, ancilla elegans, / uxorem habere,
subigere ancillam uelit’), at Cael. Aurel. Chron. 4.131 ('molles
siue subactos Graeci malthacos uocauerunt’; cf. 134), and also
in Macrobius and Festus (see below). Two nominal derivatives
are subactor = pedicator (cf. subactus = mollis in Caelius
above) in the HA. (e.g. Hel. 5.4 'posterioribus eminentibus in
subactorem reiectis et oppositis’; in the same chapter, §1, su-
baret rather than subigeret is probably the correct reading),
and the name of the marital god Subigus (Aug. Ciu. 6.9 'si
adest deus Subigus, ut uiro subigatur’).

Emout and Meillet (p. 18) state that subigo meant 'bring
the female to the male’, but I have not tracked down such a
technical use of the verb. Nisbet and Hubbard (II, p. 80) point
out that subigo could be applied to the breaking in of animals,
and that such is the metaphor at Hor. Carm. 2.5.1 ('nondum
subacta ferre iugum ualet / ceruice, nondum munia conparis /
aequare’). 1 But the metaphor was interpreted in different ways
by different speakers. In the soldiers’ song in Suetonius it is
clear from the context (note triumphat in the same line) that

1 Nisbet and Hubbard II find the same pun at Lucil. 1041ff. The notion that
ceruice has a gynaecological sense here (ceruix did have such a use in the
medical language, where it was a caique: see p. 108) is fanciful.

156 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

the metaphor is military, = 'master, subdue’. 1 On the other
hand an anonymous sutor, in a joke quoted by Macrobius, and
Festus associated the sexual use of subigo with the working of
leather (for subigo used of the working or kneading of ma¬
terials, see, e.g. Cato Agr. 74): Macrob. Sat. 2.2.6 'Plancus in
iudicio forte amici, cum molestum testem destruere uellet,
interrogauit, quia sutorem sciebat, quo artificio se tueretur.
ille urbane respondit: "gallam subigo”. sutorium hoc habetur
instrumentum, quod non infacete in adulterii exprobrationem
ambiguitate conuertit. nam Plancus in Maeuia Galla nupta
male audiebat’, Paul. Fest. p. 443 'scorta appellantur mere-
trices, quia ut pelliculae subiguntur’. On this interpretation
subigo is a similar metaphor to depso.

In comedy subigito means no more than 'fondle, lay hands
on’, as can be deduced from Plaut. Merc. 203, Ter. Heaut. 566,
and from the use of subigitatrix at Plaut. Pers. 227 (following
'ne me attrecta’, a verb which could be used of fondling). It is
not possible to determine what literal meaning of subigito
produced the metaphor in comedy.

Ps.-Acron on Hor. Serm. 1.2.35 glosses permolere with the
words 'subigitare, ut habemus in Terentio de ipso actu turpi’.
He has given to subigito the meaning which subigo had later. 2

(xi) 'Work’

The pedicator Naevolus in Juv. IX, who is a prostitute, looks
upon his activities as work or labour (e.g. 28 'utile et hoc
multis uitae genus, at mihi nullum / inde operae pretium’, 42
'numerentur deinde labores’), and he compares them with
other forms of toil (45f.). 3 Sexual activity can in the strict sense
be regarded as 'work’ if it is performed for money; hence, for
example, the use of quaestus of the prostitute’s employment. 4

1 See A. Spies, Militat omnis amans. Ein Beitrag zur Bildersprache der
antiken Erotik (Tubingen, 1930), p. 51. Among the comparable metaphors
which Spies quotes note Lucil. 1323 'uicimus, o socii, et magnam pugnauimus
pugnam’, which (as is clear from Don. Ter. Eun. 899) has an amatory sense
(cf. Ovid Ars 2.728). On military metaphors, see p. 158.

2 Preston, p. 29 points out that tempto is used in the same way at Prop.
1.3.15 Csubiecto leuiter positam temptare lacerto’) as subigito in comedy. Cf.
Col. 8.11.8.

3 See Courtney, p. 425.

4 For commercial terminology applied to prostitution, see Preston, pp. 15f.
See also p. 203 on commercium.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 157

But various words for 'work’ and the like are used of sexual
acts even when there is no question of payment. The act is by
implication likened to gainful labour, just as it is often more
specifically compared to particular trades or occupations.

Opus (cf. epyov at, e.g. Strato, AP. 12.209.3, Ach. Tat. 1.10.2) 1
is often used of the male part in the act. At Plaut. Asin. 873
'ille operi foris faciendo lassus noctu <ad me> aduenit; / fun-
dum alienum arat, incultum familiarem deserit’ opus is an
agricultural metaphor, as the next line shows. But it is usually
not so explicit, though sometimes the act is mentioned along
with varieties of real work. See Ovid Am. 2.10.36 'cum moriar,
medium soluar et inter opus’, Mart. 7.18.5 'accessi quotiens ad
opus’ (of'going to work’), 11.81.3 'uiribus hie, operi non est hie
utilis annis: / ergo sine effectu prurit utrique labor’ (note too
labor), 2 Apul. Met. 9.7 'utroque opere perfecto’ (of intercourse
with the woman, and the job of inspecting the dolium). Cf.
Caecil. 167, Hor. Epod. 12.16, Mart. 11.60.7, 11.78.2,
11.104.11, Amob. Nat. 5.14, Aug. Ciu. 6.9, Ambr. Exp. Luc.
1.43, Maxim. Eleg. 5.56. 3 4

Opera was used in much the same way as opus.* Note Plaut.
Trin. 651 'in foro operam amicis da, ne in lecto amicae, ut
solitus es’, Cic. Fam. 9.22.3 'eius operae nomen non audent
dicere’, Ovid Ars 2.673 'aut latus et uires operamque adferte
puellis’ (this 'labour’ is listed with various others, 669ff.: note
669 'dum uires annique sinunt, tolerate labores ’; the passage
may be an interpolation). Cf. Apul. Met. 2.26. The formula
operam dare (and equivalents) is sometimes given a sexual
twist (see above, p. 151, on Plaut. Aul. 284).

Compare the adjective at Apul. Met. 10.22 ('operosa ...
nocte’).

(xii) 'Wrestle, fight’

Luctor has reflexes in the Romance languages used of sexual
intercourse (OFr. luitier, 'couvrir la brebis’, OSp. luchar =
coire ). 5 The metaphor was a familiar one both in Greek (Aris-

1 See further Opelt, 950 for ipyov in various combinations.

2 For labor (used mainly of animals), see TLL VII.2.793.7fr. (cf. Hor. Carm.
3.15.3).

s See further TLL IX.2.851.8flf., Brandt, Am. 2.10.36, Grassmann, p. 83.

4 See TLL IX.2.662.25ff.

5 See FEW V, p. 440a; cf. M. Bambeck, Lateinisch-Romanische Wortstudien
I (Wiesbaden, 1959), p. 36.

158 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

toph. Pax 894ff., Strato, AT. 12.206, ps.-Luc. Asinus 9f., Ach.
Tat. 5.3.5) and Latin. For Latin, see Prop. 2.1.13, 2.15.5 ( luc -
tor), Sen. Contr. 1.2.6, Amob. Nat. 5.9 ( conluctor ), Apul. Met.
2.17, 9.5 ( colluctatio ), Claud. Carm. Min. App. 5.76 ( luctamen ).
The emperor Domitian called intercourse 'bed wrestling’, using
a Greek word: Suet. Dom. 22 'assiduitatem concubitus uelut
exercitationis genus clinopalen uocabat’ (KXtvoTrdXri). 1 Cf. Mart.
10.55.4 'idem post opus et suas palaestras / loro cum similis
iacet remisso’ (note also Ter. Phorm. 484, and cf. -n-aXoturrpa
at Theocr. 7.125 and Paulus Silentiarius, A.P. 5.259.5),
14.201.2 'non amo quod uincat, sed quod succumbere nouit / et
didicit melius rqv eTUKXivo-irdXTiv’. The use of (em)KXivoirdX'ri
twice in sexual puns in the early Empire would suggest that
the term was current in wrestling.

The most remarkable ancient example of the metaphor is
that at ps.-Luc. Asinus 9f. The encounter between Palaestra
and Lucius is described in great detail, with Palaestra, using
imperatives, acting as SiSctcrKotXos. For the technical termi¬
nology used literally, see POxy. 466 (directions for wrestling).
Apuleius made a drastic departure from the original at this
point (if the Asinus preserves the extended metaphor of the
original). At Met. 2.16 the encounter is called a proelium. In
chapter 17 Photis orders Lucius to fight. Like Palaestra, she
uses a series of imperatives, but there is scarcely any other
similarity between the two passages: ' "proeliare” inquit "et
fortiter proeliare; nec enim tibi cedam nec terga uortam. co¬
minus in aspectum, si uir es, derige et grassare nauiter et
occide moriturus. hodiema pugna non habet missionem’. There
follows a euphemistic account of intercourse, in which the
schema and movements are briefly alluded to. Apuleius clearly
set out to remove the physical explicitness of the original.

The metaphor of fighting seen here is so widespread as to
need no extensive illustration. 2 See, for example, Prop. 2.15.4
( rixa ), 3 Tib. 1.10.53 ( bella ), 4 Petron. 9.10 ( pugno ), 5 Apul. Met.

1 For intercourse as a kind of 'exercise’ ( exercitatio ), see exerceo at Plaut.
Amph. 288, Bacch. 429, Claud. Carm. Min. App. 5.76; cf. Preston, p. 52.

2 The dissertation of Spies (cited above, p. 156 n. 1) is worth consulting. On
elegy see also A. La Penna, Maia 4 (1951), pp. 193f. See further Preston, p. 50
for examples both from Greek and Latin.

3 Cf. Spies, pp. 52f.

* Cf. Ovid Am. 1.9.45 and Brandt ad loc. Cf. Spies, loc. cit.

6 Numerous examples are collected by Spies, p. 52 (with iroXtp^iv).

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 159

5.21 (proelium)} The image of 'taking by storm’ (used of de¬
flowering, and apparently current in oratory) occurs at Cic.
Verr. 5.34, Sen. Contr. 2.3.1, 2.7.7 (see p. 195). For the meta¬
phor of'attacking’, see Hor. Serm. 1.2.116ff. 'tument tibi cum
inguina, num, si / ancilla aut uema est praesto puer, impetus
in quem / continuo fiat’ (for peto in another sexual sense, see
further p. 212, n. 1), Apul. Met. 7.21 'uisa quadam honesta
iuuene ... in earn furiosos direxit impetus’ (perhaps not meta¬
phorical), Amob. Nat. 5.9 'ui matrem adgressus est’. See fur¬
ther above, p. 156 on subigo.

(xiii) 'Kill, die’

Akin to the metaphor of fighting is that of 'killing’ applied to
the male role: Apul. Met. 2.17 'derige et grassare nauiter et
occide moriturus’. Conficio ('finish off) is ambiguous in its
literal use between the senses 'kill’ and 'exhaust’. Either could
lie behind the metaphor at Suet. Nero 29 'cum affatim de-
saeuisset, conficeretur a Doryphoro liberto’; at Priap. 26.8,
however, confectus means 'exhausted’. The other side of the
coin is the metaphor of 'dying’, used of either or both partners
in intercourse (cf. moriturus in the passage of Apuleius above):
Prop. 1.10.5 'cum te complexa morientem, Galle, puella / uidi-
mus’ (cf. 1.4.12), Petron. 79.8 v. 5 'ego sic perire coepi’, Apul.
Met. 2.17 'inter mutuos amplexus animas anhelantes’, Auson.
Cent. Nupt. 120, p. 217 P. 'ilia manu moriens telum trahit’ (of
the female), 131 'labitur exanguis’ (of the male). For 'killing’
in Greek, see the double entendre in 4>ovevaeis at Heliod.
1.18.4-5.

(xiv) 'Marry’

At Apul. Met. 7.21 (' . . . auersa Venere inuitat ad nuptias’),
where nuptiae is used not of marriage but of intercourse, Apu¬
leius was following the Greek version: cf. ps.-Luc. Asinus 32
tt)v 5e yuvaiKot . . . yap-eiv ePovXeTo. On the other hand Jul.
Val. p. 6.7 ('at ille sceptro deposito conscensoque lectulo nup¬
tias agit eximque utero eius superiecta manu . . .’) is an elab¬
oration of ps.-Callisthenes 1.7, p. 7.17f. Kroll 6 8e iraXiv
avuTTap-evos air’ auiTjs, TinJ/as avTT|<; ttjv yaarepa etire ....

See Spies, p. 53.

160 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Gk. *yap,e<i> was often used of intercourse (cf. ■yap.-ryuda) of the
male at Vita Aesopi W 103), and it survives in the sense 'piv4<o’
in Mod. Gk. 1 But Latin had the same euphemism indepen¬
dently. The term 'marriage’ dignifies a purely sexual liaison,
as is recognised at Virg. Aen. 4.172 'nec iam furtiuum Dido
meditatur amorem: / coniugium uocat, hoc praetexit nomine
culpam’ (see further Rhet. Her. 4.45, quoted below). 2 For Latin
see Plaut. Cist. 43f. 'haec quidem ecastor cottidie uiro nubit,
nupsitque hodie, / nubet mox noctu: numquam ego hanc ui-
duam cubare siui’ (of a prostitute; 3 the adverbs cottidie, hodie
and noctu show that the verb expresses individual acts of
intercourse), Rhet. Her. 4.45 ' "cuius mater cotidianis nuptiis
delectetur” ’ (the author comments that the translatio was
'obscenitatis uitandae causa’; compare cotidianis with cottidie
above), Petron. 112.3 'iacuerunt ergo una non tantum ilia
nocte qua nuptias fecerunt, sed postero etiam ac tertio die’
(this passage is slightly different from the preceding two, in
that the phrase refers only to the first occasion on which in¬
tercourse took place). At Mart. 1.24.4 'nolito fronti credere:
nupsit heri’ the meaning is presumably 'he had (homosexual)
intercourse yesterday’; heri should be compared with hodie etc.
in the passages above. But it is possible that Martial is think¬
ing of a mock marriage ceremony of the type submitted to by
homosexuals (see Mart. 12.42.1, Tac. Ann. 15.37, Juv. 2.117ff.
(note 137 nubentibus), Suet. Nero 29, HA.,Hel. 10.5. 4

Matrimonium comes close to the meaning 'concubitus’ at
Firm. Mat. Math. 6.29.22 'incesto furoris ardore et nefariae
cupiditatis instinctu Alias patribus inlicitis matrimoniorum
uinculis copulari’ (cf. 6.29.21 'illicitos filiarum concubitus’). 5 6
Note too Apul. Met. 5.4 'uxorem sibi Psychen fecerat’, hymenaei
used of mating at Virg. Georg. 3.60 Caetas Lucinam iustosque

1 See L. Robert, RPh 41 (1967), pp. 78f., Shipp, pp. 187f. Another Greek
parallel for this semantic change is seen in diruuo: see Wackemagel (cited
above, p. 142 n. 2), p. 228 n. 1. Dr D. M. Bain drew my attention to Robert’s
article.

2 Compare Servius’ note on Virg. Aen. 4.23 Cueteris uestigia flammae’): ’bene
inhonestam rem sub honesta specie confitetur, dice ns se agnoscere maritalis
coniugii ardorem: hoc est, quo mariti diligi solent; nam erat meretricium
dicere: in amorem Aeneae incidi’.

3 Shipp, p. 187 compares Dem. 18.129.

4 Neither Citroni nor Howell (cited above, p. 33, n. 1) ad loc. distinguishes

between the two possible uses of nubo.

6 See TLL Vni.476.51ff. for similar examples in Matemus.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 161

pati hymenaeos / desinit ante decern, post quattuor incipit an-
nos’), and conubium of sexual union at, e.g. Lucr. 3.776, Ovid
Am. 2.7.21, Amob. Nat. 3.8. Contubernium, which could de¬
note the equivalent of a marital relationship between partners
of whom at least one was a slave, is perhaps used of intercourse
at Petron. 53.10 'liberta in balneatoris contubemio deprehen-
sa’ and Suet. Cal. 36.1 'Valerius Catullus ... stupratum a se
ac latera sibi contubemio eius defessa etiam uociferatus est’.
Legitima seems to indicate copulation at Mul. Chir. 15 'equos
admissarios ... ne in legitima mittantur’. 1 Legitimus was
habitually applied to nuptiae (e.g. Cic. Inu. 1.2), coetus (Auson.
Epigr. 79.1, p. 341 P.), amor and the like, 2 and it is obviously
from this use that the substantival neuter developed: cf. Ovid
Trist. 2.249 'nil nisi legitimum concessaque furta canemus’.
Legitima is a similar type of euphemism to nuptiae, nubo, etc.,
if applied to copulation when there is no question of marriage.

For further overlap between terms applicable to marriage
and intercourse, see below pp. 178 (on coco) and p. 179 (verbs
of joining). Note also Mart. 12.95.5f. 'ne thalassionem / indicas
manibus libidinosis’ (of masturbation); with this passage com¬
pare Agathias, AP. 5.302.19f. TrctvT’ apa Aioyev^s £<(nryev
TaSe, tov 8’ 'Ypevai ov rjeiSev iraXapT), Aaibos or) x aT Ewv.

(xv) 'Joke, play’

Iocari went into Old French (joer ) and Spanish (yogar) with
the sense 'coire’. 3 Both iocari and iocus are sometimes found in
amatory contexts in which it would be going too far to inflict
on them a specifically physical sense (e.g. Hor. Epist. 1.6.65f.,
Petron. 26.2, Justin 7.3.4), but there are also places where the
writer seems to have had sexual acts in mind: Ovid Ars 2.724
'accedent questus, accedet amabile murmur / et dulces gemitus
aptaque uerba ioco’ (ioco could surely not refer to a verbal jest
here), 3.787 'mille ioci Veneris’ (most codd. have modi, and
sexual schemata are at issue), 3.796 'nec blandae uoces iucun-
daque murmura cessent / nec taceant mediis improba uerba
iocis’ (or is Ovid referring to verbal jests containing obsceni-

1 See the index in Oder, s.v. Legitimarius similarly may = admissarius at
Mul. Chir. 773 (see the index, s.v.).

2 See TLL VII.2.1111.33ff.

3 See FEW V, p. 37a, Bambeck (see above, p. 157 n. 5), pp. lOOff. Bambeck’s
Latin evidence is not completely satisfactory.

162 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ties?), Plin. Nat. 8.144 'memoratur et Nicomedis Bithyniae
regis, uxore eius Cosingi lacerata propter lasciuiorem cum
marito iocum’, Vulg. Gen. 26.8 'rex . . . uidit eum iocantem
cum Rebecca uxore sua’ (the LXX has irat^ovra, a verb which
was also in use as a sexual euphemism (see Asclepiades, AJP.
5.7.4, and also 5.158.1 for the compound crup/nm^w), 1 and the
Vetus Latina is split between ludentem and iocantem), Anth.
Lat. 22.2 'ite, uerecundo coniungite foedera lecto / atque cup-
idineos discite ferre iocos’, CIL XIV.3565 (= CE 1504.5) 'da
mihi ut pueris et ut puellis / fascino placeam bonis procaci /
lusibusque frequentibus iocisque / dissipem curas . . .’. Cf. Ca-
tull. 8.6 'ibi ilia multa cum iocosa fiebant, / quae tu uolebas
nec puella nolebat’, where in the vicinity of the sexual use of
uolo and nolo, iocosa must refer to sexual acts.

Ludo and lusus take their implication from the context. At
Ter. Eun. 373 'cibum una capias, adsis, tangas, ludas, propter
dormias' there is an ascending sequence, with ludas indicating
unspecified physical play which falls short of intercourse. On
the other hand the declaimer quoted at Sen. Contr. 1.2.22
Onouimus, inquit, istam maritorum abstinentiam qui, etiamsi
primam uirginibus timidis remisere noctem, uicinis tamen lo-
cis ludunf) was thinking of pedicatio, or at least his words
were given this sense by a member of the audience (see the
whole anecdote). Catullus uses the verb of heterosexual inter¬
course at 61.204 'ludite ut lubet, et breui / liberos date’, Pe-
tronius of homosexual activities at 11.2 'inuenit me cum fratre
ludentem’.

Ludo could indicate the activities of both sexes in sexual
behaviour viewed as mutually pleasurable; hence either the
male or the female may be subject of the verb. For the male
as subject, see, e.g. Sen. Contr. 1.2.22 above, for the female,
Catull. 17.17, Prop. 2.15.21, Ovid Am. 1.8.43, and for both,
CIL IV.1781. Both the noun and the verb are often used of the
amatory indulgence granted to youth: e.g. Cic. Cael. 28 'datur
enim concessu omnium huic aliqui ludus aetati’ (cf. 42). 2 But

1 For the usage in Greek, see A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page, The Greek
Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams (Cambridge, 1965), on line 824.

2 See the parallels collected by R. G. Austin, M. Tulli Ciceronis pro M. Caelio
oratio 3 (Oxford, 1960), ad loc. For further examples of the two words applied
to the sexual behaviour of the young, see Ovid Am. 2.3.13 ’est etiam facies,
sunt apti lusibus anni’, Ars 3.62 ’dum licet et ueros etiam nunc editis annos, /

ludite: eunt anni more fluentis aquae’; cf. Catull. 17.17, Prop. 2.15.21.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 163

this is by no means their exclusive use (cf., e.g. Mart. 2.60.3,
11.104.5).

(xvi) 'Duty, service’, etc.

Words of the semantic field 'serve, do one’s duty’ are frequently
used metaphorically of different forms of sexual activity. For
Greek, see viToupyeu) at, e.g. Plat. Symp. 184d (of the services
provided by a boy in a homosexual liaison), Anaxil. frg. 21.2
Kock (of the woman’s services). 1

For seruio of homosexual patientia, see Cic. Cat. 2.8 'alios
ipse amabat turpissime, aliorum amori flagitiosissime seruie-
bat’, Phil. 2.86 'ut omnia paterere, ut facile seruires’.

Officium could express the services provided by either part¬
ner (active: Prop. 2.22A.24 'saepe est experta puella / officium
tota nocte ualere meum’, Ovid Am. 3.7.24 'ter Libas officio
continuata meo est’; passive: Plaut. Cist. 657 'faciundum est
puerile officium: conquiniscam ad cistulam’, Ovid Ars 2.688
'officium faciat nulla puella mihi’). 2 It is worth stressing that
it was not only the female / pathic role which could be seen as
a service. Romans were capable of speaking of the female as
the dominant partner in a sexual relationship (particularly in
elegy), and the lexicon of the language did not exclusively
assign to females a subordinate role. Nevertheless words or
expressions which were strongly redolent of servility or obe¬
dience were restricted to the female or pathic side of the act
(see below).

According to Seneca ( Contr . 4 praef. 10), the declaimer Ha-
terius had once made the remark that a freedman had a duty
to be his patron’s lover if required: 'impudicitia in ingenuo
crimen est, in seruo necessitas, in liberto officium’. Because of
the existing sexual use of officium, Haterius’ remark was de¬
liberately misconstrued, as if he were equating lexically
impudicitia (i.e. pathic behaviour) and officium. His uninten¬
tional double entendre gave rise in the rhetorical schools to a
spate of puns, in which officium at one level meant 'duty', but
on another liomosexual patientia ’: 'non facis mihi officium’,
'multum ille huic in officiis uersatur’. Pathics were modishly
called officiosi. The point of the anecdote lies not in any claim

1 See further Dover, pp. 44f.
a See further TLL IX.2.520.30ff., Trankle, p. 164.

164 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

that a new usage had emerged: offieium had possessed a sexual
sense since Plautus. 1 Because of Haterius’ slip offieium was
pinned down in the schools to just one of the sexual 'services’
which it might previously have indicated, and any use of the
word was prone to be taken in this sense. This anecdote illus¬
trates the frivolous atmosphere of the schools. Audiences were
obviously on the lookout for unintentional sexual innuendo.

Munus could also be used of the services of either partner.
At Petron. 87.8 ('et non plane iam molestum erat munus’) it
indicates those of a pathic youth. Contrast Catull. 61.227 'at
boni / coniuges, bene uiuite et / munere assiduo ualentem /
exercete iuuentam’. Cf. Plaut. Asin. 812, Hor. Carm. 2.5.2
(i munia ), 2 Mart. 9.67.8, Claud. Carm. Min. 25.130, ps.-Acron
Hor.Epist. 1.18.75. 3

Obsequium sometimes indicates wifely obedience in a non-
sexual sense. 4 It was transferred euphemistically to the female
and passive role in intercourse, 5 as at Livy 39.42.9 'eum puerum
.. . exprobrare consuli .. . solitum, quod sub ipsum spectacu-
lum gladiatorium abductus ab Roma esset, ut obsequium
amatori uenditaret’ and Col. 6.37.9 'asellus admouetur, qui
sollicitet obsequia feminae’ (cf. 6.27.10). The semantic devel¬
opment of morem gero, which was perhaps in origin a ritual
term, was much the same. It was early (in Plautus) used to
express 'the ideal married relationship of wife to husband’, 6 but
later tended to be narrowed down to female sexual behaviour
of various types (Suet. Tib. 44.2, 7 Apul. Met. 2.16). 8

1 D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Propertiana (Cambridge, 1956), p. 289 states that
'the use [of offieium] seems to have been exceptional in the Augustan period
to judge from the anecdote in Sen. Contr. 4. praef. 10, but attained respecta¬
bility in post-classical writing’. This conclusion is not justified. See further
Trankle, p, 164 n. 2.

2 See Nisbet and Hubbard II, ad loc.

3 See further TLL VIH.1667.llff.

* TLL IX.2.181.68ff. By a neat reversal of the normal phraseology, Ovid Ars

2.179ff. by implication employs obsequium of male subservience to a woman.

6 See Hey, p. 532.

6 Gordon Williams, JRS 48 (1958), p. 20.

7 The compound morigeror, applied to fellatio.

8 See Williams, loc. cit. For Plautine examples in the weaker sense, see also
Preston, p. 33. Cf. morigerus at Apul. Apol. 74.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 165
(xvii) 'Ride’

In this metaphor the man is seen as the horse (KeXiqs), with
the woman as rider; the image is applied specifically to one
schema, that with the woman (or effeminate male) astride.
The position was regarded as slightly abnormal, and one which
a woman would concede only as a special favour. 1 For examples
of the metaphor in Greek, see Aristoph. Vesp. 501, Lys. 677f.,
Asclepiades or Posidippus, AT. 5.202, Asclepiades, AJ 3 . 5.203. 2

The verb describing the position of the female in Latin might
be sedeo, as at Mart. 11.104.14 'Hectoreo quotiens sederat uxor
equo’ (cf. Ovid Ars 3.778 below). When this verb is applied to
the female role it would seem reasonable to treat the metaphor
as one of riding, even if no mention is made of the horse, as at
Apul. Met. 2.17 'super me sessim residens’; cf. (perhaps) CIL
IV.8767 'neque mulieres scierunt nisi paucae et seserunt’ (=
sederunt?). 3

For examples of the image in Latin, see Pompon. 40 'et ubi
insilui in coleatum eculeum, ibi tolutim tortor’ (doubtful), Hor.
Serm. 2.7.47ff. 'acris ubi me / natura intendit, sub clara nuda
lucerna / quaecumque excepit turgentis uerbera caudae / clu-
nibus aut agitauit equum lasciua supinum’, Ovid Ars 2.732
'cum mora non tuta est, totis incumbere remis / utile et ad-
misso subdere calcar equo’, 3.777f. 'parua uehatur equo: quod
erat longissima, numquam / Thebais Hectoreo nupta resedit
equo’, CIL IV.1781 'hunc lectum campum, me tibei equum esse
putamus’, 4 * Petron. 140.7 'puellam quidem exorauit ut sederet
super commendatam bonitatem’, 6 Arnob. Nat. 4.7 'Tutunus,
cuius inmanibus pudendis horrentique fascino uestras inequi-
tare matronas’.

In these places the rider is a woman. There is no great
difference between this schema, and that at Petron. 24.4,
where the rider is a cinaedus: 'equum cinaedus mutauit tran-
situque ad comitem meum facto clunibus eum basiisque dis-
triuit’. The same imagery seems to be applied to a cinaedus in

1 See D. M. MacDowell, Aristophanes Wasps (Oxford, 1971), on 501.

2 See further Taillardat, p. 105.

3 The interpretation of this inscription is not absolutely certain: for the
possible sexual force, see N. J. Herescu, Glotta 38 (1960), pp. 125ff.

4 On the text of the inscription, see W. D. Lebek, ZPE 32 (1978), pp. 215ff.

s There may also be a play on words at Petron. 126.10 'ego etiam si ancilla

sum, numquam tamen nisi in equestribus sedeo’: see Herescu (cited above, n.
3), pp. 129ff.

166 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

a graffito, CIL IV. 1825 'Cosmus equitaes magnus cinaedus et
fellator: esuris apertis mari(bus)’. Here equitaes = eques; 1 if the
allusion were to a Roman knight rather than a 'rider’, Ro-
manus would almost certainly have been used. This graffito
demonstrates that, though the metaphor of horse riding had
Greek associations (and hence may sometimes have been used
by a Latin writer with Greek idiom in mind), it had passed
beyond the literary sphere and entered ordinary Latin par¬
lance. Another slightly different example is at Juv. 6.311 Cin¬
que uices equitant ac Luna teste mouentur’). 2 The riders are
females, but the act is between lesbians. It was not usual to
apply the image to the more normal schema, with the man
pronus. Nevertheless, according to Artemidorus (1.56,
p. 64.13f. Pack; cf. 4.46), a horse symbolised a woman: Eircros
yap yuvaiKi p.ev Kai epwptevfl tov avrov ex eL ^byov, 6ti Kai eiri
KaXXet p-eya 4>povei Kai tov eXaTfipa Paara^et. 3

The metaphor of the race is related to that of horse riding:
see Ovid Rem. 429f. 'ille quod obscenas in aperto corpore
partes / uiderat, in cursu qui fuit, haesit amor’, and compare
Lucr. 4.1195f., Ovid Ars 2.726, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 128f., p. 217
P., quoted above, p. 144 (of'reaching the goal’). 4 More general
metaphors of travel are not suggestive of any particular
schema: see Prop. 2.33A.22 'noctibus his uacui, ter faciamus
iter’ (for Greek, see Dioscorides, A.P. 5.55.3).

1 See Krenkel, p. 83 (with n. 41), comparing municipes = municeps.

2 The use of in uices seen in this passage is sometimes found in sexual
contexts, in the sense 'taking turns’, of changes of role in sexual activity. Here
the women take it in turns to be 'rider’ and 'horse’ in sexual acts. At Nat. 7.15
Pliny talks of androgyni who alternate between the active and passive roles
in intercourse: 'supra Nasamonas confinesque illis Machlyas androgynos esse
utriusque naturae, inter se uicibus coeuntes’. Cf. Juv. 7.240 'exigite ut sit / et
pater ipsius coetus, ne turpia ludant, / ne faciant uicibus'. Presumably the
boys might take it in turns to be pedicator.

3 It is possible that at Mart. 7.57 CCastora de Polluce Gabinia fecit Achillan: /
iri>£ dyaflos fuerat, nunc erit i/mroSotpoq’) iiriToSapos is applied to the active
male. Achillas is perhaps converted from a passive to an active (heterosexual)
lover, as a result of the attractions of Gabinia. may be meant to suggest
wyn, wvUjeiv and the former pathic tendencies of Achillas. See V. Buchheit,
Studien zum Corpus Priapeorum (Munich, 1962), p. 104.

4 See further A. La Penna, Maia 4 (1951), pp. 208f., Citroni, p. 151.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 167
(xviii) 'Row, sail’

The symbolism of rowing, seafaring and boats was often put
to use in Greek (the male usually being the 'rower’ or 'passen¬
ger’): Dioscorides, AP. 5.54.3f., Hedylus or Asclepiades, AP.
5.161, Meleager, A.P. 5.204, Antiphilus, AP. 9.415, Philip,
AP. 9.416, Automedon, AP. 11.29.5f., Rufinus, AP 5.44. 1 A
vaos could symbolise a woman, and the kwGos could also be
seen to resemble the sea (anon., AP. 11.220.2, Nicarchus, AP.
11.328.3; according to Artemidorus, 3.16, p. 210.23f., Pack, 4
prooem. p. 240.7 the sea resembles a woman because it is
moist).

For the metaphor of rowing in Latin, see Ovid Ars 2.73If.
'cum mora non tuta est, totis incumbere remis / utile et ad-
misso subdere calcar equo’; cf. 725 'sed neque tu dominam
uelis maioribus usus / defice’. Ovid may have regarded the
imagery here as Grecising, but that the language of seafaring
could be used in sexual double entendre in Latin is shown by
the joke of Julia, quoted by Macrobius, Sat. 2.5.9 ('numquam
enim nisi naui plena tollo uectorem’), where the nauis repre¬
sents the womb, and the passenger ( uectorem , = is qui uehitur)
the man. For the woman 'taking up, bearing 1 (tollo) the man,
compare the similar nautical images in Philip, AP. 9.416.6
€\0ovTa Sexop-ai TrctvTa, Paora^a) £evov (for Pacrrd£u) in a dif¬
ferent context, see Artem. 1.56, quoted above), and Antiphilus,
AP. 9.415.8 ttoWous ot8a <J>epeiv epcTas. For tollo, see Petron.
25.6 'hinc etiam puto prouerbium natum illud, [ut dicatur]
posse taurum tollere, qui uitulum sustulerit’. There is some
overlap between the phraseology applicable to animals mat¬
ing, and nautical terminology. Just as the passenger 'goes
aboard’, so the male animal 'mounts’. Animal terminology and
the metaphor of 'climbing, mounting’ are dealt with below,
p. 205.

(xix) 'Theft’

Furtum indicates illicit sexual intercourse, such as adultery
(Serv. Aen. 10.91 'furtum est adulterium’). 2 It is found mainly
in poetry (particularly elegy), starting with Catull. 68.136; for

1 See further Taillardat, pp. lOlf.

2 See TLL VLl.1649.68ff.

168 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

prose, see Amob. Nat. 5.9. Martial probably took the phrase
furta tegis at 1.34.2 from Ovid (Met. 9.558, Ars 2.555). Its
juxtaposition with peccas shows the implication of the word.
For the metaphor in Greek, see Rufinus, AJ 3 . 5.18.2 of p.T) rois
onTotTciXois K\e|X|xotcri Tep'jrop.evoi . 1

(xx) Glubo, radio

Given the variable application in sexual contexts of certain
vague verbs (see below, pp. 185, 187), one is led to suggest
that the controversy over the exact implication of glubo at
Catull. 58.5 is misguided. 2 The metaphor of the stripping of the
bark ( = 'foreskin’: for cortex given this meaning by Ausonius,
see p. 74) might in principle have been applied to the 'strip¬
ping’ of the mentula by whatever means, whether by manual,
oral or vaginal stimulation. At Epigr. 79.7, p. 341 P. Ausonius
certainly had in mind masturbation when he used deglubo, 3
but Catullus provides no clue what form of stimulation he
intended. The verb may be deliberately ambiguous (cf., e.g.
sollicito at Lucr. 4.1196, below, p. 184). Alternatively it may
have had a well-established slang sense which Catullus’ read¬
ers would have recognised without contextual pointers. If so
it is pointless to argue from probabilities or from the uninfor¬
mative poem itself. If glubo was a slang term, the only evi¬
dence which we have for its meaning is that provided by
Ausonius.

Rado at Mart. 2.17.5 ('non tondet, inquam. quid igitur facit?
radit’) is similarly vague. It is taken to mean 'masturbate’ by
H. Jordan. 4

Of the metaphors discussed above those of 'eating’ and 'ur¬
inating’ are shown by their distribution to have been in com¬
mon use. Other coarse metaphors were caedo, percido, molo,
battuo, depso and perhaps (at least in the later period) iocor
and luctor. The semantic fields 'cut, strike, split, burst’ et sim.
were a fertile source of metaphors in risque humour, even if

‘On KXtufia, see D. L. Page, The Epigrams of Rufinus (Cambridge, 1978),
pp. 75f.

3 See most recently Jocelyn, LCM 4.5 (May 1979), pp. 87ff., O. Skutsch, LCM
5.1 (Jan. 1980), p. 21. In Greek 5«p<o at Aristoph. Lys. 158 is roughly
comparable.

5 See R. Penella, Hermes 104 (1976), pp. 118ff.

4 Hermes 4 (1870), p. 231 n. 1.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 169

not all manifestations of these metaphors in the remains of
the language were in banal use. More urbane or literary were
the metaphors of'playing*, 'fighting*, 'marrying*, 'rowing* ('sail¬
ing*), 'stealing* (furtum ), 'ploughing* and 'sowing*. Officium , we
have seen, had something of a vogue among the educated in
the first century a.d. Most of the metaphors listed above as
coarse were probably felt to be less euphemistic than those
classed as literary. A desire for euphemism is a common mo¬
tivator of metaphors, but metaphors can also be coarse. The
nature of the activity which generates the image probably
determines its tone. Activities which require the use of an
instrument suggestive of the penis seem generally to have
produced metaphors coarse in tone; I use the word 'coarse* not
as an impressionistic term, but with the distribution of various
metaphors in mind. Of metaphors with specialised impli¬
cations I mention those of riding (indicating a particular
schema), wounding (usually of deflowering), urinating (of
ejaculation) and reaching a goal (of ejaculation); note too the
remarks above on caedo, molo, battuo, depso and their com¬
pounds.

Greek parallels to many of the metaphors discussed here
have been quoted, but I should not wish to imply that most
metaphors attested in Latin were Greek in inspiration. Latin
shared many metaphors with Greek simply because the two
societies were similar and contemporaneous (see further be¬
low, p. 229). One would expect ancient trades, occupations and
sports (wrestling, racing) 1 to generate metaphors in both
languages, just as modern languages share metaphors of an
industrial or mechanical origin. The productivity of the cutting
instrument as a source both of nominal and verbal sexual
metaphors in both languages is due to its importance in an¬
cient society. In the modern world the gun has replaced the
sword as a sexual symbol. The more Grecising a literary genre,
the more likely it is that a Latin writer would have had in
mind Greek idiom, but that is not to say that the metaphors
he used were not independently current in Latin. It is likely
that Ovid had Greek usage before him when he employed the

1 In early Latin the use of datatim in sexual contexts (see Pompon. 1, and
perhaps Naev. com. frg. 75, Afran. 222) seems to have been a metaphor from
a game played with pilae (see Plaut. Cure. 296, Novius 22). The force of
datatim in both its literal and metaphorical uses is unclear.

170 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

metaphor of sailing and rowing in the Ars Amatoria, but it
would be rash to say that Julia’s seafaring joke was Grecising.
The problem of determining the relation of Latin sexual meta¬
phors to Greek is in no case clearer than in that of the image
of horse riding. One suspects, but cannot prove, that the meta¬
phor in Latin derives from Greek, and that Latin writers were
sometimes conscious of the derivation. But it seems to have
passed into ordinary use.

3. Metonymy

The majority of euphemisms for sexual acts refer to an event
or activity which is concomitant or associated in some way
with the sexual penetration (metonymy). The associated event
may precede intercourse, occur at the same time, or follow it.
Not that metonymy is necessarily euphemistic. The associated
event may itself be quite gross, as in the expression mentulam
caco (= pedicor). Anatomically explicit metaphors and meto¬
nymies seem to have been characteristic of slang (cf. mingo,
etc. = 'ejaculate’, uerpam comedo and the like). Sometimes one
indecency is simply substituted for another (in the expression
uerpam comedo, uerpa is just as obscene as fello).

Metonymy results usually in a narrowing of meaning. If
intercourse is called a 'disgrace’, the generic term 'disgrace’ is
narrowed down to just one of the acts in which the general
quality may be manifested. If the specialised meaning prevails
over the general, the desire for euphemism has motivated a
semantic change (see below, p. 199 on stuprum). But meto¬
nymic transfers are often adopted ad hoc. A word may be given
a specialised sense in a particular context, without losing its
general meaning.

Metonymies, like metaphors, display a wide range of tones
and implications. They often reflect the attitude of the speaker
to a particular sexual act. A person who disapproves of an act
may call it a 'disgrace, violation, injury’, etc., depending on
the circumstances. One who seeks approval for his activities
may employ a different type of 'persuasive’ designation, such
as 'fun, pleasure’ or the like. A persuasive designation implies
a judgement on the part of the user, and an attempt to impose
that judgement on the listener.

It is in the nature of euphemisms that, if used often enough,

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 171

they become so associated with the unpleasant act or object
referred to that they deteriorate in tone, whatever the attitude
they expressed initially. It was fashionable in the late first
century b.c. to call illicit sex a 'diversion, pleasure’ ( deliciae ).
But what was a mild word to the smart youth such as Caelius,
could be turned into a term of disapproval in the mouths of
contemporary moralisers. The stem uncle of Gellius in Catull.
74 spoke against deliciae. At this time the word no doubt took
its tone from the tone of voice of its user. On the other hand
a word which in origin had a strongly pejorative flavour could
undergo an amelioration of tone. It is common for intercourse
to be called 'violence, violation’ or the like by those who wish
to imply that an act was inflicted against the will of the victim.
The excessive use of a condemnatory term in contexts in which
it is not justified may cause it to weaken into a fairly neutral
designation for the male role. Words and expressions of this
type in Latin are sometimes used when there is no question of
violence.

I begin as in the preceding section with some manifest vul¬
garisms (i-ii). The examples of metonymy which then follow
are arranged according as the associated act precedes, is con¬
comitant with, or follows the sexual penetration (iii-xxiv). I
then deal with persuasive designations.

(i) Mentulam caco

The obvious interpretation of this expression (see CIL X.8145
'hanc (mentulam supra pictam) ego cacaui’) is that a pedicatus
cacauit on someone’s mentula, i.e. suffered pedicatio from the
mentula illustrated. For this use of caco (= 'defile cacando’)
see Catull. 36.1 'annales Volusi, cacata carta’ (metaphorical).
In the graffito an associated event has been described rather
than the sexual act itself, but the event suggesting pedicatio
is itself indecent. Mentulam caco may have been a slang
expression, = pedicor.

Housman’s interpretation of the inscription and of some sim¬
ilar passages is far-fetched. 1 On Priap. 69.3f. ('ad me respice,
fur, et aestimato / quot pondo est tibi mentulam cacandum’)
he writes: 'cacat, hoc est merdae modo emittit, mentulam cui

1 Classical Papers, p. 1177; against, Buchheit, (cited above, p. 166 n. 3),
pp. 144ff., with a useful (but incomplete) collection of passages.

172 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

earn finito opere extrahit pedicator’. The alleged parallels for
such a use of coco mean not 'force out cacando’, but 'produce
cacando’, or 'produce in one’s stercus’ (e.g. Pelagon. 308 'san-
guinem . .. cacat’). The insertion of mentulam into such a
syntagm creates an absurdity. Housman makes no mention of
cacata at Catull. 36.1, but contents himself with the remark
that concaco is applied to the excretion of little birds.

There is abundant evidence that the pedicatus was con¬
sidered to cacare, or to defile the mentula of the pedicator:
Mart. 9.69 'cum futuis, Polycharme, soles in fine cacare. / cum
pedicaris, quid, Polycharme, fads?’, Juv. 9.43f. 'an facile et
pronum est agere intra uiscera penem / legitimum atque illic
hestemae occurrere cenae?’, Priap. 68.8 'pediconum mentula
smerdalea est’, CIL X.4483 'caca, ut possimus bene dormire
.. . et pedicare natis Candidas’. At Auson. Epigr. 77.10, p. 341
P. it is predicted that a pedicator in his next incarnation will
be a dung beetle (cf. Lucil. 967 with Marx ad loc.). Other
passages which definitely or possibly have the same point are
Lucil. 1186 'haec inbubinat, at contra te inbulbitat <ille>’
(Paul. Fest. p. 29 'inbulbitare est puerili stercore inquinare’),
Pompon. 64 'conforisti me, Diomedes’. Courtney (on Juv. 9.44)
draws attention to Mart. 11.88, 13.26 and Amob. Nat. 4.7
('luteas uoluptates’); the last example is not a parallel, but
compare Auson. Epigr. 106.9, p. 351 P. 'luteae Symplegadis
antrum’. At Pompon. 151 ('ego quaero quod comedim, has
[= hae ?] quaerunt quod cacent: contrariumst’) and Novius 6
('quod editis nihil est; si uultis quod cacetis, copia est’) it is
possible that, if cacare alludes to a sexual act, comedim and
editis also have a sexual implication. The speaker in Pompon-
ius might be expressing the desire to fellare, in contrast with
certain cinaedi who want to be pedicari. The two acts are at
opposite ends of the body ( contrariumst ).

(ii) Calare

Calare entered Latin as a loan-word (< x<*Xao), 'loosen, slack¬
en’), and it eventually became influential in the Romance
languages. The meaning ('lower’) which it has at Veg. Mil.
4.23 ('aduersum arietes etiam uel falces sunt plura remedia,
aliquanti centones et culcitas funibus calant’; of the lowering
of blankets over the side of a wall to soften the blow of the
ram and weapons) is basically that which it handed on to its

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 173

Romance reflexes, 1 though in Romance it tends to be specialised
in certain nautical applications: note Isid. Etym. 6.14.5 'apud
nautas "calare” ponere dicitur’. So xaXaco was used in later
Greek as a nautical and shipping term. 2 There is no evidence
that when calare first came into Latin it was a nautical term.
The examples at Vitr. 10.8.1, 10.8.5 are not nautical. The
nautical use seems to have emerged later, perhaps under the
influence of the Greek development.

In graffiti calo is virtually a substitute for futuo: CIL IV.2021
add. p. 214 'Dionysius qua hora uolt, <l>icet chalare’, 8715
'Iucudus male cala’ (= calat ), XII.5687.38 'uides quam bene
chalas’, Rev. fcpigr. V, p. 141 'uides quam bene calas’. It is not
possible to relate this sexual use to the later nautical senses.
The implication must be much the same as that of laxo at
Priap. 31.3 'haec mei te uentris arma laxabunt’ (= 'make
laxus’, of pedicatio ; for laxus, -a used thus, see, e.g. CIL
XI.6721.11 'laxe Octaui sede’, IV. 10004 'Eupla laxa landicosa’,
Priap. 17.3 'laxior redibit’, 18.2 'laxa ... femina’ (cf. 46.5,
Mart. 11.21.1)). Calo would strictly have expressed the 'loos¬
ening’ of the female by or for entry. One of the above inscrip¬
tions (XII.5687.38) is spoken by a woman pictured on a
medallion astride a man, and obviously laxa. 3 * But the verb
need not have been applicable just to this one schema. For
XotXaco used of the same act as that expressed by calo , but in
a metaphorical double entendre, see anon., A J 5 . 5.99.2 -rjOeXov,
co KiOapcpSe, Trapacrras, cos KtOapC^ets, / Tqv vjtottiv Kpauaoa, tt|v
t€ pio-qv xaXctom (musical terminology).

Like a few other Greek loan-words in the Latin sexual
language ( eugium , strutheum), calare may have been intro¬
duced by Greek prostitutes. In some of the graffiti prostitutes
seem to be praising (or condemning) the performance of their
clients (for this type of graffito, see, e.g. CIL FV.2176 'Felix
bene futuis’, and above, p. 120). Greek must often have been
heard in brothels, and it is possible that in the Greek words
mentioned in this paragraph one has some examples of brothel
slang. The use of Greek in the bedroom by non-Greek women
is castigated by Martial (10.68) and Juvenal (6.191ff.). The

1 See FEW II.1, pp. 60f. for a discussion of the meanings of the Romance
reflexes of calare.

2 See Shipp, pp. 564f.

3 For an illustration see P. Wuilleumier and A. Audin, Annales de I’Univ-

ersiti de Lyon 22 (1952), p. 56.

174 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

restriction of calo to graffiti in a sexual sense shows that it
was a vulgarism.

I move on to a few suggestive words and expressions which
strictly denoted events prior to copulation. One could often
interpret these expressions as elliptical euphemisms, since a
complement might be implied or deleted ('go to’, for example,
implies 'go to coeundi causa’: see below, (v)).

(iii) Duco and its derivatives

'To take ( ducere ) a whore, woman’ was a euphemism for en¬
gaging in paid intercourse. Much the same terminology is used
in comedy (notably that of Plautus) for taking a wife and a
prostitute. In reference to marriage there are four common
Plautine expressions, ducere uxorem domum, ducere uxorem,
ducere domum, ducere. 1 If domum is not expressed, it was
presumably often understood. When the reference is to pros¬
titution, however, domum is an abnormal complement (but
see Plaut. Poen. 269 'quas adeo hau quisquam umquam liber
tetigit neque duxit domum, / seruolorum sordidulorum scorta
diobolaria’), and it was probably not as a rule understood,
because it would not have been usual to bring prostitutes to
one’s house. 2 Occasionally duco is complemented, as in the
mock-official graffito CIL IV.2450 'a.d. XI k. Decembr. Epapra
Acutus Auctus ad locum duxserunt mulierem Tychen; pretium
in singulos a(sses) V f(uit). M. Mesalla, L. Lentulo cos.’, but it
is more often absolute; presumably the verb would originally
have indicated the taking of the whore from the place where
she was soliciting to an unspecified destination. But scortum
ducere (without a complement) was so banal, at least at the
time of Plautus, 3 that ducere need not necessarily have implied
motion from one place to another (= 'acquire, get’?).

Various derivatives of duco are used in the same sense: for
ducto, see Plaut. Asin. 189, Poen. 868 (as a result of this usage

1 A large collection of examples, classified according to these categories, can
be found in J. Kohm, Altlateinische Forschungen (Leipzig, 1905), pp. 55ff.

2 But see Plaut. Merc. 813, C. Gracchus, Orat. frg. 27 'si ulla meretrix domum
meam introiuit’; at Ter. Heaut. 819 'mihi / amicam adduxti quam non lici-
tumst tangere’ domum may be implied: so P. McGlynn, Lexicon Terentianum
(London and Glasgow, 1963-7), I, p. 13a.

3 G. Lodge, Lexicon Plautinum (Leipzig, 1924-33), I, p. 4346 quotes 9
examples.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 175

the verb became indelicate: Quint. 8.3.44), 1 and for ductito, see
Plaut. Poen. 272. Adduco is found in Plautus {Merc. 813, 924)
and Terence {Heaut. 819,1041, Adelph. 965), and it was in use
in Atellane farce: see Varro Ling. 7.84 'in Atellanis licet ani-
maduertere rusticos dicere se adduxisse pro scorto pelliculam’
(or is Varro quoting only the last word?).

There are various indications in the above material that the
idiom was established in ordinary speech in the Republic and
early Empire (note the graffito, and the comments of Varro
and Quintilian). It does not seem to be so common later.

Such verbs rarely have the meretrix as subject (Plaut. Mil.
93?: text doubtful).

(iv) Rapio

The basic sense of rapio was 'drag off into captivity (sc. coeundi
causa)’: 2 see, e.g. Livy 1.9.10, Ovid Met. 12.225; cf. rapto at Met.
12.223. It is possible that it tended to be weakened into a
synonym of uim afferre, uitiare, etc., expressing an act of sex¬
ual aggression without a concomitant 'capture’. In the decla¬
mation Sen. Contr. 7.8, where the verb occurs repeatedly, it is
a question of a single sexual violation which took place on one
night (7.8.4 quadam nocte). Rapio alternates in the decla¬
mation with uitiare and its derivatives (§§ 3, 4, 7; cf. Quint.
9.2.70). Rapio is a similar type of euphemism to duco: both
express the taking off of someone for unspecified purposes. But
rapio had a strong implication that the act was carried out
against the will of the victim.

Rapio was frequent in declamation (cf. dpirdO at Sen. Contr.
2.3.23). For examples in prose, see Sail. Cat. 51.9, Quint. 7.7.3.
Raptor is also common; cf. raptum at Sen. Contr. 7.8.10.

(v) 'Go, come to’

The euphemism illustrated at Plaut. True. 150 'ad pueros ire
meliust’ (pedicationis causa) was current at all periods, with
variations of verb. For ire, cf. Petron. 113.11, Tac. Ann. 13.46,
Anon. Med. ed. Piechotta LXXVIII. 3 For accedo, see Vulg. Lev.

1 Preston, p. 18 points out that, unlike duco, ducto is not used of marriage,
and he plausibly relates this restriction to its frequentative force.

2 See Nisbet and Hubbard II on Hor. Carm. 2.4.8.

3 See further TLL V.2.639.32ff.

176 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

18.19 'ad mulierem, quae patitur menstrua, non accedes’ (con¬
trast the different complement at Mart. 7.18.5 'accessi quotiens
ad opus’). Accedo is used rather differently, of approaching a
prostitute in the street, at Sen. Contr. 2.7.4 'tantum non ultro
blandientes ut quisquis uiderit non metuat accedere’ (contrast
Petron. 140.11). 1 With Mart. 12.75.1 'festinat Polytimus ad
puellas’, compare Juv. 6.331 'si nihil est, seruis incurritur’
('one hastens to slaves’). For adeo, see Catull. 8.16 'quis nunc
te adibit?’. Ad uirum pergunt at Hippocr. Aer. 21, p. 41.13f.
('non enim prius ad uirum pergunt cum in utero habent’) ren¬
ders wapa av8pa d<t>iKveup.evcH.

Sometimes verbs meaning 'go in’ are used elliptically in the
sense 'go in (to a room, coeundi causa)’: Firm. Mat. Math.
1.10.10 'ad sororem frater . . . quasi maritus intraret’, 2 Vulg.
Gen. 6.4 'ingressi sunt filii ... ad Alias’ (LXX eintiropevovTo
. . . npos). 3 These idioms are not always distinguished in the
dictionaries from the use of the same group of verbs of physical
penetration.

Venio often has the female as subject: e.g. Prop. 1.5.32 'non
impune ilia rogata uenit’ (cf. 2.14.20), Mart. 1.71.4 'et quia
nulla uenit, tu mihi, Somne, ueni’ (cf. 11.73.1), Porph. Hor.
Serm. 1.5.84 'illam promisisse quidem se uenturam, sed non
uenisse’ (cf. Catalept. 1.1, Ovid Am. 1.10.30). A female, viewing
herself as the goal of motion, would have used uenio of a man
coming to her, but most Latin writers were males writing from
their own point of view. Nevertheless for uenio used of the
man, see Ter. Hec. 67, Catull. 32.3, Sen. Contr. 1.2.1 (of clients
coming to a brothel). Whores in Plautus sometimes talk of
their clients as aduentores: True. 616 'si aequom facias, ad-
uentores meos <non> incuses, quorum / mihi dona accepta et
grata habeo’ (cf. 96).

In Greek compare <boiT<iw (e.g. Hdt. 4.1.3 and often), epxopat
(with the man as subject, Philip, AT. 9.416.6, and with the
woman, Philodemus, AT. 5.120.2, Automedon, AT. 11.29.1,
Macedonius, AT. 5.235.1), and ^kw, which occurs in a context
identical to that of Mart. 11.73.1 and Porph. Hor. Serm. 1.5.84
at Asclepiades, AT. 5.7.2, 150.1, Paulus Silentiarius, AT.
5.279.5; cf. Philodemus, AT. 5.46.7.

1 TLL 1.255.19ff. is inadequate on accedo.

2 See TLL Vn.2.61.35ff.

3 See TLL VII.l.1569.29ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 177
(vi) 'Be with’

The least specific of metonymies is seen in the expression esse
cum (cf. ovveip-L at, e.g. Aristoph. Pax 863, cnryyi-yvop-ai at Hdt.
2.121e (listed by Pollux 5.92), ytyvopm (xerct at Luc. Dial.
Meretr. 6.1; note too ouvowCa, awowid^w). It is found from
early Latin onwards (e.g. Plaut. Amph. 817, 818, Bacch. 891,
True. 688, Ter. Hec. 156). 1 The decency of the phrase is com¬
mented on by Varro Ling. 6.80 'aeque eadem modestia potius
cum muliere fuisse quam concubuisse dicebant’. A particularly
clear case is at Ovid Am. 2.8.27 ('quoque loco tecum fuerim
quotiensque, Cypassi, / narrabo dominae quotque quibusque
modis’), where it is combined with modis (indicating schemata ;
cf. Tibullus’ use of teneo, p. 181). For a later example, see
Priap. 14.3.

(vii) 'Sleep with, lie with’

On the currency of dormio cum, see Don. Ter. Andr. 430.
Examples are numerous in (e.g.) Terence, Cicero, elegy, Pet-
ronius and Martial. 2 laceo cum is especially widespread, both
in prose (e.g. in the narrative (26.4) and speeches (81.6, 112.3)
of Petronius) and verse. 3 For concumbere, see TLL IV.102.27ff.
(Cicero and elsewhere). Cubo (e.g. Plaut. Merc. 538, Ter. Hec.
138) and cubito (e.g. Plaut. Cure. 57, Stick. 547) could have
the same implication; cf. concubitus, cubitura (Plaut. Cist.
379), cubitus (Amph. 1122). Expressions of this type are fa¬
voured in comedy 4 and elegy.

This euphemism may be universal. For Greek, see (e.g.)
Horn. Od. 8.295 Koip.ri0f|vou, Hdt. 2.181.2 ovyKXivotTo, Aris¬
toph. Nub. 49 CTV"yKaT€K\i,v6p.Tiv (cf. Pollux, 5.92), Lys. 904
KCtTotKXcvT|0i (jlct’ ep.au, Luc. Dial. Meretr. 6.2 ovyKaOeuSovcra
em |juct 04 >. cruvavaTrauop-ai is mentioned by Pollux, 5.92.

'Sleeping with’, in the sense 'sharing the same bed with’,
someone is a mark of married status. In marital contexts the
expression may indicate a conjugal right, without suggesting
intercourse. Pomponia refused to 'sleep with’ Quintus Cicero
at a time of marital strife. She merely refused to share the

1 Numerous examples from comedy are cited by Preston, p. 18 n.

2 TLL V.l.2030.Iff.

3 TLL VII.1.15.38ff.

* Preston, p. 32.

178 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

same bed: Cic. Att. 5.1.4 'mihique narrauit nec secum illam
dormire uoluisse et...’.

(viii) 'Stay, spend the night with’

Maneo had a classical meaning 'spend the night’, 1 which lives
on with some of its reflexes in Romance (e.g. Engad. manair).
From this idiom derives the euphemism maneo (cum), = 'have
intercourse with’. 2 The usage is common in Christian Latin, 3
but it was also established in early popular Latin. See now
CIL IV.8792 'Antiochus hie mansit cum sua Cithera’; and on
its popular currency, note Donatus’ remark on Ter. Andr. 430
'quod uulgo dicitur "cum ilia manere” ’.

The more explicit phrase 'to spend the night with’ was also
suggestive of intercourse, and nox sometimes behaves as an
equivalent of stuprum, as in such expressions as noctem pro-
mittere, poscere, locare (e.g. Tib. 2.6.49, Ovid Am. 1.8.67,
1.10.30, Mart. 1.106.4f.). These phrases were no doubt char¬
acteristic of the world of prostitution: note ps.-Acron on Hor.
Epist. 1.17.36 'quae noctem talento uendebat’. See further
Plaut. True. 278 ('cumque ea noctem in stramentis pemoctare
perpetim’; cf. Aristoph. Nub. 1069 cv tols <rrpdjp,aan.v rqv vuktoi
•jravvux^ei.v), 4 Cic. Att. 1.16.5, Hor. Epod. 15.13, Ovid Am.
1.10.47,1.11.13, Sen. Contr. 1.2.22, Tac. Ann. 13.44, Juv. 1.38. s
For Greek see Theocr. 11.44 Trap’ ep.lv tckv voktci Siafjeis, anon.,
A (P. 5.101.3 Ct]t€Is 8e ti; vuktoi.

Occasionally moror is used in much the same way as maneo:
Virg. Aen. 5.766 'complexi inter se noctemque diemque mor-
antur’, CIL IV.2060 'Romula hie cum Staphylo moratur’ (?).

(ix) Coeo and its variants

Coeo was often used of 'coming together’ in matrimony (e.g.
Gaius Inst. 1.59 'si tales personae inter se coierint, nefarias et

1 TLL Vni.282.57tf.

J Note Nonius’ etymology of meretrix, p. 684 L. 'menetrices a manendo dictae
sunt, quod copiam Bui tantummodo noctu facerent’.

a See TLL VIQ.283.lltf., and also Rfinsch, Semasiologische Beitrage zum
lateinischen Wdrterbuch (cited above, p. 55, n. 1), 03, p. 58; cf. I, p. 42 (on
mansio = coitus).

4 See Preston, p. 46.

* See Courtney ad loc.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 179

incestas nuptias contraxisse dicuntur’; cf. Quint. 5.11.32,
Nerat. Dig. 12.4.8, Paul. Dig. 23.2.2). But as the verbal eu¬
phemism par excellence for copulation, heterosexual, homosex¬
ual or bestial (Vulg. Exod. 22.19), it was probably a metonymy
rather than a metaphor like nubo, etc. Coeo is found first at
Lucr. 4.1055 of sexual intercourse; it became common from the
Augustan period. 1 The derivative noun was coitus (for which
see further below, p. 189). 2 The form coetus is occasionally at¬
tested with the same sense, 3 usually in poetry, where it is
metrically convenient ( coetus was disyllabic, as at Auson.
Epigr. 79.1, p. 341 P., whereas coitus was trisyllabic, as at
Ovid Met. 7.709). Examples in prose (Amob. Nat. 5.23) are
difficult to evaluate (scribal slip, or due to the writer’s taste
for artificiality?). Coifio was a late recherche variant for coitus
(e.g. Macrob. Sat. 7.16.6). 4 *

Writers of late artificial prose cast around for replacements
for coitus: congressio, conuentio, conuentus (cf. conuenio at, e.g.
Plin. Nat. 11.85), concilium and consortium are all found (see
TLL s.w.). Amobius had a taste for such words.

(x) ’Join’, etc.

Iungo and coniungo were also common in reference to
marriage, 6 but they were used as well of'joining’ in intercourse.
For iungo, see Hor. Carm. 1.33.8 ('iungentur capreae lupis’), 6
and for coniungo, Lucr. 5.853. The derivative coniugatio (of
copulation) turns up in later Latin: Tert. Adu. Val. 7.8 'ex
coniugationibus masculorum et feminarum’, Amob. Nat. 2.16
'et nos corporum coniugationibus nascimur’. In a medieval
parody coniunctio (like the juxtaposed copula) is a grammati¬
cal metaphor: Lehmann no. 13, pp. 223f. 'quid sit casus inflec-
tere / cum famulabus Veneris; / quid copula, coniunctio: / quid
signat interiectio, / dum miscet cruri crura’. 7 For the meta¬
phorical use of grammatical terms, see Lucillius, AT. 11.139.4
(TTTWcreis, owSeup-ous, crxf|p.otToi, <rv£v"yCots). The sexual misuse

1 See TLL III.1418.7ff.

2 TLL IIl.1567.48ff.

3 TLL III.1444.43ff.

1 See TLL III.1566.64ff.

6 TLL VII.2.658.60ff., IV.333.17ff.

6 See TLL VII.2.658.3ff., 60ff, 660.48ff, 661.58ff.

7 For copula, see also Ambros. Expos. Luc. 1.43.

180 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

of such words is taken to its limit by the author of the medieval
Babio, 182, where the connective particle -que seems to stand
for intercourse: 'abdita iam tractat; pelle, nefanda, nefas! / uim
pateris, Viola: nunc, spero, facta uoluptas; / non procul est
etiam quod 'que’ sit inter eos’. 1 On grammatical parody, see
further above, p. 39.

I mention here a mixed variety of expressions in which parts
of the body other than the sexual organs are said to join, come
into contact or the like, as for example the latus (Lucil. 305,
Ovid Her. 2.58), the femur (Tib. 1.8.26, Ovid Am. 3.14.22), the
head (note the comic formula caput limare cum, at Plaut. Poen.
292, Caecil. 140, Turpil. 112; cf. Prop. 2.14.22 'mecum habuit
positum lenta puella caput’), the lips (Plaut. Pseud. 1259), the
breast or chest (Plaut. Pseud. 1261, Lucil. 305), the legs (Lucil.
306) or even the feet (Auson. Cent. Nupt. 104, p. 216 P.). Or
the bodies ( corpora ) may be linked (Plaut. Amph. 833, Lucr.
4.1193, Ovid Am. 3.14.9). For Greek cf. Archil. 119 West,
Argentarius, AJP. 5.128. In such descriptions it was common
for an anatomical term or terms to be repeated in a different
case. This type of euphemism, in which the role of innocent
parts not intimately involved in the act is stressed, might be
compared with the distancing of allusions to oral acts by means
of the substitution for os or lingua of a vague noun (p. 212 n.
1 ).

(xi) Misceo and compounds

Misceo is used in the medio-passive, with a reflexive comple¬
ment or accompanied by a nominal object such as corpus (see
below; for a different type of object, see Amob. Nat. 5.31 'mis-
cuisse concubitus’), with either the male or female as subject.
The variety of constructions can be illustrated by comparing
Min. Fel. Oct. 25.10 ('quae .. . se uiris miscuissent’) with Aug.
Ciu. 14.19 ('miscetur uxori’). Examples in poetry (e.g. Ovid
Met. 13.866 'sic se tibi misceat’) 2 may owe something to the
frequent use of pCyvupt in the same sense in Homer, Hesiod
and elsewhere (e.g. Horn. II. 9.275 p/rj TroTe rf|s euvfjs
p-evat ijSe p-iy^voa; cf. 21.143). Similarly the use of misceo and

1 See Faral, De Babione, poime comique du XII* siicle (cited above, p. 15,
n. 3), ad loc.

2 Cf. TLL VIII.1081.46ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 181

the compounds admisceo and commisceo in medical and tech¬
nical writers (e.g. Pliny the Elder) may sometimes have been
influenced by the Greek medical use of piyvupa (e.g. Hipp.
Horn. 3 piyfleui and often). 1 Not that medical or veterinary
examples in Latin can always be directly related to a Greek
original. Mul. Chir. 459, for example ('qui cum conatur ad-
miscere, continuo meiat’; absolute, of the male) does not cor¬
respond exactly to anything at Hipp. Berol. 33.10, CHG I,
p. 170.7f., and commisceatur at Soran. Lat. (Mustio) p. 14.9f.
was not determined by the Greek version (see Soran. Gyn.
p. 201 Rose). For medical examples, see further Theod. Prise.
Gyn. 22, Mul. Chir. 756 ( mixtio ), 762, Cael. Aurel. Gyn.
p. 16.390 ('corpora commiscentur’), Chron. 4.132.

But there are also signs that the idiom had been banalised
in literary varieties of the language, on which Greek need not
have been directly influential: e.g. Apul. Met. 9.24, Ampel. 9.9,
Min. Fel. Oct. 31.3, Ulp. Dig. 23.2.43.2. At Vet. Lat., Lev. 19.19,
(Hesych. in Lev. 19.19, p. 2029 D.) commisceri corresponds to
KaToxeweis in the LXX (Vulg. coire). The idiom had progressed
beyond a mere caique, but sometimes Greek influence cannot
be ruled out. Its distribution shows that it was learned in tone;
in medical Latin it was a technical term.

(xii) 'Embrace, hold’, etc.

An obvious concomitant of intercourse is holding or embracing,
and verbs from these semantic fields are often used euphe¬
mistically. The euphemistic use of teneo is well illustrated at
Tib. 2.6.52 'quisue meam teneat, quot teneatue modis’, where
the last word shows that Tibullus had in mind different sche¬
mata ; cf. 1.5.39. For complector, complexus, see (e.g.) Prop.
1.13.19, and for amplector, Don. Ter. Andr. 430 '<amplecti>
quod uulgo dicitur "cum ilia manere, cum ilia dormire” \ Hae-
reo has a wide range of attested sexual uses: of copulation at
Prop. 2.15.25 'atque utinam haerentis sic nos uincire catena /
uelles’, Petron. 79.8 'haesimus calentes’ (cf. Lucr. 4.1113,1205,
and cohaereo at Plin. Nat. 10.173), of manual stimulation at
Juv. 6.024 'saepius in teneris haerebit dextera lumbis’, and of
cunnilinctio at Mart. 11.61.11 'tumenti mersus haeret in uol-

1 MAXfrnvm ig mentioned as a designation of intercourse by Pollux, 5.92 (see
also 5.93 for

182 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ua’. Cf. Mart. 2.61.7 'haereat inguinibus potius tam noxia
lingua’, Sen. N.Q. 1.16.4 'inguinibusque alienis obhaeserat’,
Min. Fel. Oct. 28.10 'libidinoso ore inguinibus inhaerescunt’,
where the complements leave no doubt concerning the type of
'clinging’ in question. 1

(xiii) Comprimo and its synonyms

Verbs of pressing and the like are often used of the male role.
Premo appears in direct speech at Suet. Cal. 25.1 'noli uxorem
meam premere’. The goddess Prema allegedly had a part in
the ceremony of the deflowering of a bride (Aug. Ciu. 6.9).
Pullipremo (= pedicator) is printed by editors at Auson. Epigr.
77.8, p. 341 ('Lucili uatis subpilo pullipremo’; cf. Lucil. 967),
but the text is doubtful (pullo premor Z, pulo premor T). Con¬
trast Lucr. 4.1079 'quod petiere, premunt arte faciuntque
dolorem / corporis’, where premunt is genuinely used of a con¬
comitant action and is not replaceable by futuunt.

The chief representative of this root with a sexual sense was
comprimo. It is the standard word for the indiscretions com¬
mitted by the adulescentes in comedy, where it does not seem
to have been determined by any term in Greek New Comedy. 2
Comprimo continued to be used in polite genres, both prose
and verse. It is hardly ever used of animals (but see Col.
8.11.5), and is rarely employed of pedicatio (see Novius 95
(?), Apul. Met. 10.5). The nouns compressus and compressio are
also attested ( TLL , s.vv.). Comprimo was probably a native
Latin euphemism of the educated language.

Opprimo is an occasional variant of comprimo (found mainly
in late and Christian Latin). 3 4 It also appears to have turned up
in an early graffito: CIL IV. 1879 'ea<m> Xamus amat
<I>onicus: oppressit nam’. 1 * If the inscription has been read
correctly, the verb seems to be without any notion of forcible
overwhelming. At Aug. Ciu. 1.18 ('femina ... uiolenter op-

1 At Auson. Cent. Nupt. 118, p. 217 P. 'haesit uirgineumque alto bibit acta

cruorem’, it is the mentula which haesit.

3 See TLL III.2157.70ff. for examples.

3 TLL IX. 2.788.34ff.

4 J. B. Hofmann and A. Szantyr, Lateiniscke Syntax und Stilistik (Munich,
1965), p. 506 do not mention this example of postponed nam. Postposition is
said to be confined to poetry (first in Catullus) and late prose.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 183

pressa et alieno compressa peccato’) oppressa is simply a stylis¬
tic variant for compressa.

For urgeo, see Pompon. 99 'nescio quis molam quasi asinus
urget uxorem tuam’, Hor. Carm. 1.5.2 'quis multa gracilis te
puer in rosa / perfusus liquidis urget odoribus’.

(xiv) 'Rub, stimulate’ and the like

Verbs of this general semantic field are neither exclusively
metonymies nor metaphors when applied to sexual acts. A
verb meaning 'rub away’ is metaphorical if used of sexual
intercourse, but 'rubbing 1 can be interpreted as a concomitant
of the sexual act. I have considered it convenient to lump
together some different types of expressions in this section.

Tero had various agricultural uses ('grind, thresh’), but it
was a more general word than molo (the basic sense was 'rub,
wear away’), and its sexual use should be treated separately.
See Plaut. Capt. 888 'Boius est, boiam terit’, Prop. 3.11.30 'et
famulos inter femina trita suos’, Petron. 87.8 'utcumque igitur
inter anhelitus sudoresque tritus, quod uoluerat accepit’,
Priap. 46.9 'erucarum opus est decern maniplis, / fossas in-
guinis ut teram dolemque / cunni uermiculos scaturrientis’.
The vagueness of tero made it applicable (like some of its
synonyms: see below) to sexual acts other than fututio and
pedicatio. At Priap. 83.34 'licebit aeger angue lentior cubes, /
tereris usque, donee ..it indicates masturbation (cf. Tpipw
at Aristoph. Vesp. 1344, avotTpi'Paj at Ach. 1149). 1 For its use of
cunnilinctio, see Juv. 9.4 'Rauola dum Rhodopes uda terit
inguina barba’. At Mart. 1.66.7f. ('custodit ipse uirginis pater
chartae, / quae trita duro non inhorruit mento’) a book is
compared to a locked-up virgin. Trita mento has the secondary
implication 'kissed’. I see no grounds for finding an additional
pun (of cunnilinctio). 2 For tero used of kissing, see Mart. 11.22.1
'mollia quod niuei duro teris ore Galaesi / basia’.

The intensive compound distero (= 'rub to pieces’) at Petron.
24.4 ('equum cinaedus mutauit transituque ad comitem meum
facto clunibus eum basiisque distriuit’) must refer to the mo-

1 Trankle, p. 138 should not have included this example with those meaning
'futuo', 'pedico'.

2 Citroni and Howell (see p. 33, n. 1) ad loc. do not make clear what second¬
ary sense they see in trita here. Commentators discussing tero habitually
lump together various distinct sexual uses.

184 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

tions of the cinaedus astride his victim. At Anth. Lat. 148.8
('hanc fouet amplexu molli cunnumque caballae / adterit ad-
siduo pene fututor hebes’) attero is applied to fututio. At Pe-
tron. 81.6 ('forsitan mutuis libidinibus attriti derident
solitudinem raeam’) the participle seems primarily to mean
'worn out, exhausted’.

The predominating sexual meaning of frico is 'masturbate’:
see Schol. Juv. 6.238 'manu sua penem fricat sibi’, CIL X.4483
'cunnu tibi fricabo’ (arguably ambiguous; for cunnum as the
object of futuo, see CIL IV.1830 add. p. 212, = CE 230 'futuitur
cunnus . . .’), Petron. 92.11 'tanto magis expedit inguina quam
ingenia fricare’, Mart. 11.29.8 'nil opus est digitis: sic mihi,
Phylli, frica’ (cf. 1 'tractare uirilia’), 1 and perhaps Plaut. Pseud.
1189-90 'uncti hi sunt senes: fricari sese ex antiquo uolunt’.
Note too frictura in the spurcum additamentum at Apul. Met.
10.21 'Priapo<n> frequenti frictura porrixabam’. Frico sur¬
vived in Old French with the meaning' futuo ’ (froier ), 2 and this
may be its sense at Anth. Lat. 190.8 'te duce lasciuae nocte
fricantur anus’. It is not certain what meaning of frico lies
behind Tertullian’s frictrix (Resurr. 16.6 'calicem . .. frictricis
uel archigalli . . . spiritu infectum’, Pall. 4.9 'aspice lupas,
popularium libidinum nundinas, ipsas quoque frictrices, et si
praestat oculos abducere ab eiusmodi propudiis occisae in pub¬
lico castitatis’). The first passage implies that a frictrix was a
fellatrix. If so it would have been an idiomatic use of frico
applied to oral stimulation which produced the noun. In the
second passage Tertullian uses the word as if it was familiar
to his readers. There is nothing in either context to suggest
that frictrix was a caique on Tptpdq.

The interchange between the senses 'masturbate’ and 'futuo’
is also illustrated by sollicito, which in Classical Latin could
be applied to masturbation (Ovid Am. 3.7.74, Petron. 20.2,
Mart. 11.22.4, Maxim. Eleg. 5.58), but in the Medieval comedy
Lidia (514) refers to fututio: ' "parce, precor” Pirrus clamat,
"dux, parce pudorem; / non honor est istis sollicitare locis” ’.
Slightly different again is the example at Lucr. 4.1196 ('nam
facit ex animo saepe et communia quaerens / gaudia sollicitat

‘ The (possessive) dative mihi with frica was obviously idiomatic: it occurs
in two of the other examples cited here, usually in conjunction with an ana¬
tomical term in the accusative (penem , cunnum). For the ellipse of mentulam
at Mart. 11.29.8, see above, p. 146 n. 1.

2 FEW III, p. 783.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 185

spatium decurrere amoris’), used of unspecified acts (and
words?) of stimulation employed by the female during
intercourse. 1

Tergeo ('rub, clean’) may not have been an established meta¬
phor = futuo, but it was used suggestively by Flaccus reported
by Macrob. Sat. 1.15.21 (see p. 85).

We have now seen verbs of rubbing and the like used in a
variety of senses which may be generally classified as sexual:
(a) of fututio and pedicatio ( tero, attero, frico (?), sollicito), (6)
of masturbation (tero, frico, sollicito), (c) of oral acts (tero, frico
(?)), (d) of the stimulation applied by a cinaedus by means of
the clunes (distero), (e) of the stimulation employed by the
woman in intercourse (sollicito), and (f) of kissing (tero). The
imprecision of the verbs in question permits them to be used
of any form of stimulation, the nature of which may or may
not emerge from the context. If a writer wished to leave the
details of an act unspoken, he could select one of the verbs
without providing an additional pointer to its implication (note
Lucr. 4.1196 above). See above, p. 168 on glubo.

The applicability of certain vague verbs to different forms
of sexual stimulation can be further illustrated from the se¬
mantic field 'touch’.

(xv) 'Touch’ and the like

Tango and its compounds and derivatives furnish a large class
of euphemisms. Greek had the same euphemism: e.g. Biyyavoa
(Eur. Hipp. 1044), i|/oti3a> (Philodemus, AT. 12.173.3), xP°t£“
(Theocr. 10.18), a-irru) (ps.-Luc. Asinus 6).

At Ter. Eun. 373 tango means no more than 'touch, caress’:
'cibum una capias, adsis, tangas, ludas, propter dormias’; cf.
Donatus’ five stages of amor, in which tactus comes before
osculum: Ter. Eun. 640 'quinque lineae perfectae sunt ad
amorem: prima uisus, secunda alloquii, tertia tactus, quarta
osculi, quinta coitus’. For the verb implying intercourse, see,
e.g. Plaut. Poen. 98, Ter. Adelph. 686, Catull. 89.5, Hor. Serm.
1.2.28, 54, Ovid Ars 2.692, Mart. 1.73.1 (cf. 4 fututorum), and
in later Latin, Mul. Chir. 756 '. . . desiderare mixtionem mas-
culi. qui cum tetigerit masculus, statim praegnantes fiunt’
(masculum cod.; Oder retains the accusative and changes qui

On sollicito at C. Gracchus Orat. frg. 27, see p. 200.

186 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

to quae, but since tango usually (but see below on attingo )
describes the male role it is preferable to change masculum),
Matthew of Vendome, Milo 184 'cultoris uacat egra manu qui
uimina nulla / falce metit, nullo uomere tangit humum’ (I in¬
terpret this passage as containing a series of double en¬
tendres). For tango applied in circumlocutions to another type
of sexual act, see Catull. 21.8 'tangam te prior irrumatione’,
Priap. 28.5 'altiora tangam’. At Ovid Ars 2.719f. it is used of
masturbation: 'cum loca reppereris, quae tangi femina gau-
det, / non obstet, tangas quominus ilia, pudor’ (cf. 713); cf.
Mart. 1.92.2 'queritur .. . / tangi se digito, Mamuriane, tuo’
(touching of the mentula or cuius?). Various (non-verbal) de¬
rivatives of tango also have a sexual use: e.g. integer (e.g. Ter.
Hec. 145, 150), intactus (Juv. 6.163, 7.87) (cf. di|>a\xTTO<>, Paulus
Silentiarius, AP. 5.217.1), tactus (Petron. 81.5).

Attingo is used in the same sentence as tango at Catull.
89.5, and with the same meaning: 'qui ut nihil attingat, nisi
quod fas tangere non est’ (cf., e.g. 67.20, Ter. Hec. 136). At
97.11 the female is subject: 'quem siqua attingit’. Contingo is
also well attested, particularly in late Latin (e.g. Vet. Lat., I
Cor. 7.1, ap. Tert. Pud. 16.13; Vulg. tangere, Gk. dTrreoOoa; cf.
Eugraph. Ter. Hec. 153).

A range of uses attaches to tracto (< traho) and its com¬
pounds. Tracto itself was commonly used of masturbation:
Naev. com. frg. 127, Varro Men. 368, Petron. 140.13, Mart.
11.29.1, Priap. 80.2; for Medieval examples, see Babio 180,
Pamphilus 688 (of caressing, of an unspecified type). On the
other hand the verbal noun tractatio at Petron. 139.1 ('torum
frequenti tractatione uexaui, amoris mei quasi quandam im-
aginem’) seems to express the actions typical of the male in
intercourse (on uexo, see p. 200). Contrecto too could be em¬
ployed of stroking or masturbation (e.g. Plaut. Poen. 1311,
Sen. Contr. 1.2.3, 1.2.9, Suet. Nero 34.4, Arnob. Nat. 5.11 (of
masturbation), Maxim. Eleg. 5.57 (of masturbation)). It was
also applied to the active role in intercourse (e.g. Suet. Dom.
1.3 'contractatis multorum uxoribus’), 1 and even to oral prac¬
tices (Aurel. Viet. Caes. 5.7 'utrique sexui genitalia uultu con-
trectabat’). At Sen. Contr. 1.2.13 it is used of kissing. A clear
case of attrecto = futuo is at Cic. Cael. 20 'qui dicerent uxores
suas a cena redeuntes attrectatas esse a Caelio’ (cf. Suet. Nero

1 Cf. TLL rV.774.47ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 187

26.2). Other instances merely refer to fondling: e.g. Plaut.
Pers. 227 'ne me attrecta’, Rud. 420 'nimium familiariter / me
attrectas’. Pertracto at Plaut. Asin. 224 ('si papillam pertrac-
tauit’) also means 'fondle, caress’.

I mention finally a coinage in the spurcum additamentum
at Apul. Met. 10.21: 'ipsoque pando et repando uentrem se-
piuscule tactabam’. 1

Various verbs seen in this section were used indifferently of
manual stimulation, stimulation by means of the sexual or¬
gans or of oral stimulation.

(xvi) 'Have’ and the like

Donatus registers the meaning 'have’ = 'have intercourse with’
(the female) for habeo in his note on Ter. Adelph. 389 'quia
haberi uxor dicitur et haberi mulier, cum coit’. This meaning
is illustrated at Mart. 12.20.2 'quare non habeat, Fabulle,
quaeris / uxorem Themison? habet sororem’ (a double en¬
tendre). 'Having a prostitute’ was a particular application of
the idiom: note Ter. Andr. 85 'heus puer, / die sodes, quis heri
Chrysidem habuit?’ (cf. Plaut. Bacch. 1080 'habui scortum’,
and ps.-Acron on Hor. Epist. 1.17.36). See further Ovid Met.
9.497, Petron. 130.6. 2 Characteristically the female is object in
Latin. The verb was also sometimes applied to homosexual
relations: note Ovid Ars 1.524 'et si quis male uir quaerit
habere uirum’ (cf. Mart. 1.92.3). In Greek a prostitute could
be subject of exparticularly in the expression exw Tiva, =
'have a client’: Philodemus, AJ 3 . 5.46.2 p-fi tiv’ exeis, Posidip-
pus, AJ 3 . 5.213.1 e£ pev exei tiv’; cf. Meleager, AJ 3 . 5.191.5 ^
tiv’ exei ovyKoiTov. The male too is sometimes subject (in ref¬
erence to intercourse): e.g. Posidippus, AJ 3 . 5.186.4 ei 8’ eTepos
oe / eixe (cf. Macedonius, AJ 3 . 5.243.2). For the transfer to
homosexual contexts, see Eratosthenes, AJ 3 . 5.277.1 dpoevas
aXAos exoi. A rather different application is seen at Men. Epitr.
frg. 1.2 6 vuv exwv <tt|v> 'AjJpoTovov rr)v i|/d\Tpuxv (of'having’
a prostitute over a longer period); compare teneo at Mart.
11.40.2 'formosam Glyceran amat Lupercus/et solus tenet
imperatque solus’.

1 See Mariotti, p. 242 = p. 60.

2 See Preston, p. 19 n. 36, Housman, Classical Papers, p. 735, TLL

VI.3.2409.33ff.

188 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Other verbs were occasionally used in the same way as
habeo. For possideo, see Mart. 9.67.1 'lasciuam tota possedi
nocte puellam’. Potior refers to the moment of orgasm at Lucr.
4.1076 'potiundi tempore in ipso / fluctuat ... ardor aman-
tum’. Contrast Ovid Met. 9.753 'nec tamen est potienda tibi’,
Tert. Apol. 46.11 'mulieres sine concupiscentia aspicere non
posset et doleret, si non esset potitus’, Aug. Ciu. 1.19 'huius
corpore cum uiolenter oppresso Tarquinii regis filius libidinose
potitus esset’. To this category perhaps belongs CGL V.474.47
(510.51) 'poteri [= potiril ] fornicari’.

(xvii) Amo, libido, uenus

'Love’, in an emotional sense, might be described as a concom¬
itant of the sexual act. Amo was sometimes transferred eu¬
phemistically to the physical act. The verb has varying
implications. At Plaut. Poen. 1230 'ego te antestabor, postea
hanc amabo atque amplexabor’ it refers to embracing, whereas
at Cic. Cat. 2.8 the reference, both in amabat and amori, is to
pedicatio: 'alios ipse amabat turpissime, aliorum amori flagi-
tiosissime seruiebat’. Cf. CIL IV. 1898 'quisquis amat calidis
non debet fontibus uti. / nam nemo flammas [sic] ustus amare
potest’, Mart. 3.58.38 'alius (porrigit) coactos non amare Ca¬
pones’ (= futuere).

Similarly libido, 'sexual lust, desire’, tended to acquire the
physical sense 'sexual act’. At Cic. Phil. 2.45 'nemo umquam
puer emptus libidinis causa tarn fuit in domini potestate’ the
word is ambiguous, whereas at Plin. Nat. 22.86 'mulieres li¬
bidinis auidissimas uirosque in coitum pigerrimos scripsere’ it
has the new sense (= coitus). With this meaning libido is
quoted mainly from prose of the Empire, 1 but it is found occa¬
sionally earlier (Catull. 45.24 'uno in Septimio fidelis Acme /
facit delicias libidinesque’). Libido is used quite neutrally by
Pliny (above) and Catullus, but with a tone of disapproval by
(e.g.) Suetonius at Tib. 11.4, Cal. 41.1.

The participants may simply 'feel desire’ together: Catull.
88.If. 'cum matre atque sorore / prurit’, Mart. 9.73.6 'pruris
domini cum Ganymede tui’.

Some of the above examples illuminate the semantic devel¬
opment of uenus, originally a neuter of root *wen-, 'desire’.

1 See TLL VII.2.1333.67ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 189

The word became one of the standard neutral nouns of the
educated language for sexual intercourse (contrast stuprum,
the standard pejorative term: see p. 201). 1 The development of
uenus was exactly the opposite of that of ’A4>po8(tti, which
began as the name of a goddess and shifted to the senses
'sexual desire, intercourse’. But though uenus = 'intercourse’
is not a caique on ’A<t>po8mi, late medical writers who used
uenus may have been influenced by the presence of ac|)po8uxia
(which is common in the Hippocratic corpus) in their sources
(similarly, with usus uenerius, usus ueneris at, e.g. Cael. Au-
rel. Gyn. p. 11.253, Soran. Lat. (Mustio) pp. 9.3, 74.4f., compare
rj t(I) v dcj>po8uncov xP'n (Tl< ? at, e.g., Plat. Leg. 841a). Venus was
in rivalry with coitus as the neutral educated noun, but it was
older and perhaps more common in most technical writers.
Coitus is found first in the Augustan period (Ovid Met. 7.709); 2
uenus is common from Lucretius onwards, in writers who deal
with sexual activity in a technical and neutral tone. 3 There can
be no doubt that it was in use long before Lucretius took it up.
It is no surprise that uenus in the sense in question is not
found in Plautus or Terence, because characters in drama
usually talk of intercourse in persuasive or emotive terms.
Venus outnumbers coitus by 15:7 in Celsus, 11:5 in Columella,
and 16:2 in Marcellus Empiricus. Pliny, however, seems to
have preferred coitus. In the zoological book 8, for example, it
occurs 22 times, whereas uenus is not used at all. Venus is
employed of human intercourse at (e.g.) 10.172 twice, 11.131,
and of that of animals at 10.100, 174, 182. Pliny may have felt
uenus to be more applicable to humans than animals.

(xviii) Patior

Patior was the technical term of the passive role in intercourse.
It does not occur in Plautus, but is found in Novius and the
late Republic, and common from the Augustan period. The
verb could be used absolutely, as at Sen. Epist. 95.21, of fe¬
males ('(mulieres) pati natae ... adeo peruersum commentae
genus impudicitiae uiros ineunt’), or at Petron. 87.7, of a youth

1 On uenus, see Emout and Meillet, s.v., and in particular Emout, RPh 30
(1956), pp. 7ff., = id. Philologica II (Paris, 1957), pp. 87ff.

2 See TLL III.1567.48ff.

3 There is a rich collection of examples in Emout’s article, cited above; cf.
Adams, 'Anatomical terminology’, n. 17.

190

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(cf. Novius 19). Virum or the like is a common complement:
e.g. Col. 6.24.2 'sua sponte marem patiuntur (equae)’ (cf. Sen.
N.Q. 1.16.2, of a pathic). For various other complements, see
Sail. Cat. 13.3 'uiri muliebria pati’ (the same expression is at
Tac. Ann. 11.36), Cic. Phil. 2.86 'ut omnia paterere’ ( omnia
sometimes has a sexual implication: see Sen. N.Q. 1.16.5, Juv.
6.02 )}Patientia was the abstract correspondent, as at Sen. N.Q.
1.16.6 and Petron. 9.6 (muliebris patientiae).

irauxto is rare in a sexual sense in classical Greek (but note
Aristoph. Thesm. 201 eupvrrpwKTos ei / ov tois Xoyouriv, ctXXot
Toiq TraGfip-ao-iv). 1 2 iraOiKos is not quoted in Greek (but note
Nicarchus, AT. 11.73.7 Trot0iKev€Tcu, of a woman); hence path-
icus must have been a popular borrowing. It was in vulgar use
(CIL IV.2360, XI.6721.39). Pathicus was applicable to males
(Catull. 16.2, Juv. 2.99) and females (Priap. 25.3, 40.4, 73.1).

(xix) 'Know’

The familiar Biblical euphemism 'know’ (of carnal knowledge)
was well domiciled in Latin before it made an appearance in
Bible translations: 3 e.g. Catull. 72.1 (nosse), 61.180 ( cognitae ),
Caes. Gall. 6.21.5 ( notitiam habuisse), Ovid Her. 6.133 ( cog-
nouit)\ cf. CIL VI. 12853.5 = CE 548 'dedita coniugi soli suo,
ignara alienum’. Cf. Men. frg. 382.5 eireiTa <t>oiTdiv xal koXcxk-
eucov <ep,e re Kal> / rriv p/q-rep’ eyvw p,’. 4

(xx) 'Enter’

With hesitation I classify this usage as a metonymy. Certainly
it involves specialisation of a general verb. Ineo was used of
entry by men (e.g. Anton, ap. Suet. Aug. 69.2) and even women
(tribades ?) (Sen. Epist. 95.21), but its predominating use seems
to have been of the male animal (see p. 206). For this verbal
root, see also Priap. 74.1 'per medios ibit pueros mediasque

1 Cf. Courtney ad loc. for Greek parallels.

2 On irdcrx<o, see A. W. Gomme and F. H. Sandbach, Menander, A Commen¬
tary (Oxford, 1973), p. 270 (on Dysc. 892).

3 See Opelt, 951 for the idiom in Christian Latin.

* For Greek see in particular W. Bauer - W. F. Arndt - F. W. Gingrich, A
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago, 1957), p. 1605, s.v.
yiyvuxTKdJ, (5).

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 191

puellas’, 33.2 'Naidas antiqui Dryadasque habuere Priapi, / et
quo tenta dei uena subiret, erat’.

Only one late example of ingredior of entry in tbe sexual
sense is quoted at TLL VII.1.1569.83ff. For the verb used of
'going in to’ (the cubiculum), see p. 176. Intro is not quoted
with our sense; see p. 176 ('go in to’).

Various more vigorous verbs of similar meaning are used in
much the same way as ineo: inruo (Plaut. Cas. 889-90 'magis
iam lubet in Casinam inruere’, ps.-Acron on Hor. Serm. 2.7.72
'putas te moechum non esse, si non palam in feminas irruis’,
HA., Comm. 5.11 'nec inruentium in se iuuenum carebat in-
famia’), 1 incurro ( Vit. Patr. 5.5.26; incurro is rare in this sense;
Sen. Contr. 2.7.4 and Juv. 6.331 do not belong in this category,
despite TLL VII.1.1086.5f.), incurso (favoured by Tertullian:
Nat. 1.7.32, 1.16.11, Pud. 4.3). Verbs of rapid motion tend to
be weakened into synonyms of ire, and that development to
some extent accounts for the above usages. Sometimes there
may have been an idea of forcible violation present. Tertullian
uses incurso of illicit intercourse of various kinds; cf. inruo in
ps.-Acron above. Ambulare in at Sen. Contr. 1.5.9 ('ambulet in
masculos’) seems to be a circumlocution for ineo\ in has surely
not been used for ad, as M. Winterbottom’s translation (Loeb)
implies.

(xxi) Positions and positioning

Allusions to sexual acts often take the form of descriptions of
the position or positioning of the participants (cf. on sedeo and
horse riding, p. 165). A verb of positioning may in effect be a
substitute for an offensive verb such as futuo or pedico (act. or
pass.), or it might suggest a particular schema. Sometimes
words or expressions suggestive of positions are used in con¬
junction with a verb = futuo or pedico, and are intended as
technical rather than euphemistic. I treat together here both
euphemistic substitutes for futuo or pedico, and a few other
recurring words and phrases used of various schemata.

Incuruo at Mart. 11.43.5 ('incuruabat Hylan’) expresses the
positioning of the pathicus for pedicatio ; it is virtually equiv¬
alent to pedico. Contrast Apul. Met. 9.7 'adulter, bellissimus
ille pusio, inclinatam dolio pronam uxorem fabri superincur-

1 See further TLL VII.2A51.58fT.

192 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

uatus secure dedolabat’, where the compound, applied to the
posture of the male, is used along with rather than instead of
a vivid verb (= futuo or pedico).

Inclino was in wider use for the positioning of the pathic
(male or female): see Juv. 9.26 'ipsos etiam inclinare maritos’,
10.224 'quot discipulos inclinet Hamillus’, Schol. Juv. 2.21 (on
ceuentem) 'inclinatum ad stuprum et sustinentem’, and, of the
female, Apul. Met. 9.7 above. On the inscriptional inclinabi-
liter, which establishes the currency of the sexual use of the
verb, see p. 137 n. 1. The adverb seems to have been equiv¬
alent to the present participle, used intransitively in a middle
sense ('bending over’, sc. 'for pedicatio’)-, for the intransitive
use of inclino, see, e.g. Lucr. 2.243, Juv. 3.316. Usages com¬
parable to inclino are attested in Greek, but are without direct
connection with the Latin. 1

Pronus and supinus could take on a sexual significance (note
pronam at Apul. Met. 9.7 above, and cf. Catull. 28.9 'bene me
ac diu supinum/tota ista trabe lentus irrumasti’, Juv. 6.126
'ac resupina iacens cunctorum absorbuit ictus’, 2 Apul. Met. 8.29
'nudatum supinatumque iuuenem execrandis oribus flagita-
bant’). Hence Juvenal’s resupino: 3.112 'auiam resupinat ami¬
ci’; cf. 8.176 'resupinati cessantia tympana galli’ (Schol. 'ebrii,
turpia patientis’).

Various phrases were suggestive of sexual acts or schemata.
Attractis pedibus occurs not only at Catull. 15.18 but also at
CIL IV. 1261 ('futebatur inquam futuebatur ciuium Romano-
rum atractis pedibus cunus’). Capite demisso (suggesting cun-
nilinctio or fellatio) is found at Cic. Dom. 83 and Catull. 88.8;
cf. Sen. N.Q. 1.16.4 'cum caput merserat’. Pedes tollere (sig¬
nifying the positioning of the female) is fairly common; it is in
effect a suggestive euphemism = futuofr). 3 Note Cicero’s joke,
Att. 2.1.5 'noli, inquam, de uno pede sororis queri; licet etiam

1 See, e.g. Dioscorides, AR. 5.54.2, Scythinus, AJP. 12.232.3.

2 See Courtney ad loc. on the text.

3 1 do not accept that, as Jocelyn, AJP 101 (1980), p. 433, nn. 64-5 implies,
the phrase necessarily suggested the schema mentioned at Ovid Ars 3.775
'Milanion umeris Atalantes crura ferebat’. The act tollendi pedes could initiate
intercourse, whatever the position ultimately adopted. See the lamp illustra¬
tions numbered Q 1407, Q 1408, Q 882, Q 979 in D. M. Bailey, A Catalogue
of the Lamps in the British Museum, 2, Roman Lamps made in Italy (London,
1980), pp. 65f. for one or both feet of the woman raised but not on the shoulders
of the man.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 193

alteram tollas’, and cf. Petron. 55.6, v. 11, Mart. 10.81.4,
11.71.8; cf. capeiv t& ctkcXtti (Aristoph. Eccl. 265, Pax. 889).

Amob. Nat. 2.42 ('clunibus et coxendicibus subleuatis Ium-
boram crispitudine fluctuaret’) seems to refer to the female,
supina, with raised thighs or arched back.

Conquinisco and ocquinisco were popular terms of the Re¬
public, signifying the act of squatting or bending over (i.e. the
position of the pedicatus). For conquinisco, see Plaut. Cist. 657
'faciundum est puerile officium: conquiniscam ad cistulam’,
Pseud. 864 'si conquiniscet istic, conquiniscito’ (not necessarily
sexual), 1 Pompon. 171 'in terram, ut cubabat, nudam ad eum
ut conquexi, interim / mulieres conspiciunt’. Conquexit at Epit.
Alex. 101 is a conjecture by Wolfflin; if it were accepted it
would be an archaism. For ocquinisco, see Pompon. 126, 149.
Apart from the Republican examples the two words are con¬
fined to grammarians and the like, by whom they are usually
equated with inclino : Prise., GL 11.508.28, Non. pp. 119, 213
L., CGL IV.129.34, V.636.12, V.645.1.

Coxim ('squatting, on one’s haunches’) was of the same root; 2
the connection with coxa is a popular etymology. It too is a
Republican vulgarism (Pompon. 129, Varro Men. 471), with
an archaising example in Apuleius (Met. 3.1). The association
of coxim with defecation (Pompon. 129) and its use by Varro
(= 'stooping, limping 1 ) imply that the above verbs would not
originally have had a necessary connection with the position
adopted for pedicatio (see also Plaut. Pseud. 864 above). But
they were tending to be specialised in the period of recorded
Republican Latin.

(xxii) Movements

Verbs and expressions indicating movements not inherently
sexual form an important class of euphemisms for sexual acts.

Volutor ('have a roll’; cf. tnryKo\(eo-0ai at Athen. 588e) is
shown by its wide distribution to have been idiomatic: see Cic.
Har. Resp. 59 'quis umquam nepos tarn libere est cum scortis
quam hie cum sororibus uolutatus’ (cf. Petron. 79.9 'uolutat-
usque liberius cum fratre non suo’), Prop. 2.29B.36 'apparent

1 Nonius, p. 119 L. has ceueto simul: see Fraenkel, Kleine Beitrage zur
klassischen Philologie II, pp. 45ff.

2 See Emout and Meillet, s.v.

194 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

non ulla toro uestigia presso, / signa uolutantis nec iacuisse
duos’; cf. Sen. Contr. 1.2.13 (of an act which stops short of
stuprum ), 1.2.6 ( uolutatio ), Plin. Nat. 35.140, Apul. Met. 9.5.
The similarity of Cic. Har. Resp. 59 to Petron. 79.9 suggests
the possibility that uolutor cum sorore / fratre had originally
been a non-sexual set phrase. If so its transfer to the sexual
sphere would have constituted a metaphor akin to that of
'playing’. With uolutor can be compared cado ('tumble’) at
Plaut. Pers. 656 'libera eris actutum, si crebro cades’. 1

Palpito super was no doubt Juvenal’s own phrase: 3.134
'semel aut iterum super illam palpitet’.

Phrases containing clunes or lumbi as the object of a verb of
movement were often used to suggest the sexual act. The
movements were those of the pathic (male or female); hence
the phrases could be substitutes for criso or (more often) ceueo.
At Juv. 2.21, for example, clunem agitant suggests ceuent ('de
uirtute locuti / clunem agitant. "ego te ceuentem, Sexte, uere-
bor?” ’). Movements in intercourse were employed by scorta,
according to Lucretius (4.1274f.), as a means of avoiding con¬
ception and of being seductive. Wives had no need for such
wiles (1268, 1277); for a complaint about a uxor who does not
'move’, see Mart. 11.104.11. Sexual behaviour of this type
clearly had a lascivious reputation. The same terminology was
also used of dancing (note Copa If. 'Copa Syrisca, caput Graeca
redimita mitella, / crispum sub crotalo docta mouere latus’,
Mart. 5.78.26ff. 'nec de Gadibus inprobis puellae / uibrabunt
sine fine prurientes / lasciuos docili tremore lumbos’; cf. Ovid
Am. 2.4.30, Petron. 23.3, Juv. 6.019, 11.164, Priap. 19.2f.,
27.2). 2 There can be no doubt that a similarity was seen be¬
tween the acts of crisandi and ceuendi on the one hand and
dancing (note Don. Ter. Eun. 424). Cinaedus originally meant
'dancer’ (note CGL V.654.7 'cynedi qui publicae clunem agitant
id est saltatores uel pantomimi’; cf. Plaut. Mil. 668). 3 Musicians
and dancers were often prostitutes.

For other examples of such phrases applied either to move¬
ments in the sexual act itself, or to seductive foreplay, see
Priap. 83.23 'puer . . . qui . . . / iuuante uerset arte mobilem
natem’, and above, p. 48.

1 See Preston, p. 42, TLL III.22.73ff. ('sensu obscaeno pro succumbere’).

2 See Courtney on Juv. 6.019. The dancers of Gades were particularly noted
for lascivious dancing: see Juv. 11.164 and the passage of Martial cited.

3 See W. Kroll, ’Kinaidos’, RE XI.1.459f.; cf. Courtney, loc. cit.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 195

Moueo itself (in the medio-passive) and some of its deriva¬
tives were applicable to sexual motions: Plaut. Asia. 788 'equi-
dem illam moueri gestio’, Mart. 7.18.5f. 'mixtisque mouemur
/ inguinibus’, Juv. 6.311 'inque uices equitant ac Luna teste
mouentur’. Cf. Ovid Am. 2.4.14 'spemque dat in molli mobilis
esse toro’, 2.10.35 'at mihi contingat Veneris languescere mo-
tu’, Lucr. 4.1268 'nec molles opus sunt motus uxoribus hilum’,
Mart. 11.104.11 'nec motu dignaris opus nec uoce iuuare / nec
digitis’. It is pointless to compare moueor with kivcu, which is
usually equivalent to Pivew (and hence is not normal in the
middle: but see Aristoph. Lys. 227 -rrpooxivT|o-opou).

(xxiii) Some miscellaneous concomitant events

The bed might shake: Catull. 6.10f., Ovid Am. 3.14.26, Juv.
6.2If., 9.77f„ Apul. Met. 2.7. 1

Panting is an often mentioned accompaniment of inter¬
course: Juv. 6.37 'et lateri parcas nec quantum iussit anheles’;
cf. Tib. 1.8.37, Petron. 87.8, and note suspirat at Lucr. 4.1192
and suspiria at A nth. Lat. 253.18.

(xxiv) Some miscellaneous consequences of the sexual act

Certain euphemisms allude to consequences effected by the
sexual act. The suggestive turn of phrase 'to make someone a
woman’ was no doubt in use: 2 not eHA., Quad. Tyr. 12.7 'omnes
tamen (uirgines), quod in me erat, mulieres intra dies quin-
decim reddidi’; cf. Cicero’s joke, ap. Quint. 6.3.75 'ut Cicero
obiurgantibus, quod sexagenarius Publiliam uirginem duxis-
set: "eras mulier erit” inquit’. 3 Probably with this phrase in
mind, Varro coined the verb muliero to express an act of ped-
icatio perpetrated against a boy: Men. 205 'hie ephebum mu-
lierauit, hie ad moechada adulescentem cubiculum pudoris
primus polluit’.

'To deprive someone of virginity’ is a common circumlocution
in polite prose. For pudicitiam eripio, see, e.g. Cic. Mil. 9 (of
pedicatio), and for uirginitatem as object of the same verb, see
Sen. Contr. 1.2.1. Cf. Cic. Verr. 1.9 'expugnatorem pudicitiae’,

1 See Courtney on Juv. 9.77.

2 Cf. Luc. Dial. Meretr. 6.1 to yuvaCxa -ytv^aSai «k irapStvou.

s For Christian Latin, see Opelt, 968.

196 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Sen. Contr. 2.3.1 'expugnatam filiae pudicitiam’ (military
metaphors; see p. 159). The metaphor is akin to 'deflowering’
at Sen. Contr. 1.2.12 'inlibatam uirginitatem decerpunt’. La-
berius coined depudico as an equivalent of pudicitiam eripio
(inc. fab. XVII Ribbeck, ap. Gell. 16.7.2), on the analogy of
formations such as dehonesto and deuirgino. The latter is at¬
tested for the first time in the sense in question at Petron. 25.1
'cur non, quia bellissima occasio est, deuirginatur Pannychis
nostra?’. Since the verb is in direct speech, it may already
have been in use. Virginitate priuauit at Apul. Met. 6.23,
though of a normal Latin type, was perhaps adopted by Apu-
leius in imitation of a favoured type of phrase in the Greek
novel: cf. Xen. 2.5.7 irap0ev£av rqv ep.T)v d<t>avuroi, Ach. Tat.
8.12.8 T-qv -rrapOeidav eXvae. The phrase nodum uirginitatis
eripere is found 3 times in the Latin novel Hist. Apoll. Tyr.
(pp. 2.12, 67.7, 73.5); cf. Paulus Silentiarius, AT. 5.217.1 xpu-
<xeo<; di)»awTou> SitTporycv appa KopeCas / Zevs. This expression
probably derives from the undoing of the girdle.

An act subsequent to intercourse was washing (by the fe¬
male). References to this were a means of suggesting that a
sexual act had taken place: note Cic. Cael. 34 'ideo aquam
adduxi ut ea tu inceste uterere’. 1

As a consequence of intercourse the participants may be
'weary, worn out’ (contrast the metaphors of 'killing, dying’,
above, p. 159). Verbs of wearying were sometimes substituted
for futuo or pedico. For lasso see Tib. 1.9.55, Juv. 6.130, HA.,
Maxim. 4.7 (= pedico), and for fatigo, Priap. 26.3 (with female
subject); cf. perago at Priap. 34.4 (also with female subject).
For other words of this semantic field in sexual contexts, see
lassus at Plaut. Asia. 873, Ovid Am. 1.5.25, 3.7.80, 3.11.13,
Apul. Met. 2.17, lassitudo at Apul. Met. 2.17, fessus at Mart.
9.67.3, and confectus at Priap. 26.8. On attriti at Petron. 81.6,
see above, p. 184.

(xxv) 'Pleasure’, etc.

I move on to some 'persuasive’ euphemisms.

Deliciae, 'diversions, allurements, pleasures’, was a vogue
usage among the youth of Cicero’s day for extra-marital
affairs: see Cic. Cael. 44 'deliciae quae uocantur’. It was deter-

See Brandt, Am. 3.7.84, Ars 3.96.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 197

iorating in tone. There is a note of disapproval in Cicero’s
remark, and the uncle of Gellius was in the habit of castigating
deliciae: Catull. 74.1f. 'Gellius audierat patruom obiurgare
solere, / si quis delicias diceret aut faceret’. Catullus, on the
other hand, belonged to the group in which deliciae was used
persuasively: note 45.24, 'uno in Septimio fidelis Acme / facit
delicias’, for a neutral example. 1 See further Prop. 2.15.2, Sen.
Contr. 7.6.7, Apul. Met. 9.16.

Delecto was used of the pleasure which the man gives to the
woman, as in a freedman’s speech at Petron. 45.7 'deprehensus
est, cum dominam suam delectaretur’. The idiom is both self-
effacing, in that no mention is made of the fact that one of the
man’s motives was to obtain pleasure himself, and boastful, in
that the pleasure of the female by implication reflects the
virility of the man. The male orientation of the euphemism
can be paralleled elsewhere in Petronius. At 75.11 satis facio
(in a speech by Trimalchio) is a blatant boast ('ego tamen et
ipsimae [dominae] satis faciebam’; Trimalchio continues, 'sci-
tis quid dicam: taceo, quia non sum de gloriosis’). It is also
appropriate to the relative social status of the participants
that the domina should allegedly receive the pleasure, and the
seruus merely serve as its instrument, as if his own desires
were irrelevant. And at 87.1 ('rogare coepi ephebum ut reuer-
teretur in gratiam mecum, [id est] ut pateretur satis fieri sibi,
et cetera quae libido distenta dictat’) satis fieri sibi is hypocrit¬
ical, since the pedicator was traditionally believed to obtain
more pleasure than the pedicatus. What Eumolpus means is
that he wishes to satisfy himself, but he has stressed the
altruism of his motives. For delecto, see further Rhet. Her.
4.45, Mart. 1.34.3, Apul. Met. 8.7, 10.22; cf. Juv. 6.367.

For the man 'taking’ pleasure, see (e.g.) the phrases con¬
taining uoluptas at Plaut. Amph. 114, Ter. Hec. 69, Arnob.
Nat. 5.9. Here the role of the woman as an instrument of the
pleasure might seem to be ignored. On the other hand at Hor.
Carm. 3.6.27f. ('neque eligit / cui donet inpermissa raptim /
gaudia luminibus remotis’) it is the woman who gives pleasure.
Voluptas (Lucr. 4.1263, Ovid Am. 1.10.35, Met. 4.327, Sen.
Contr. 2.5.14) and gaudium (Catull. 61.110, Tib. 2.1.12, Ovid

1 See the remarks of C. J. Fordyce, Catullus, a Commentary (Oxford, 1961),
on 50.3.

198 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Am. 3.7.63) commonly have a sexual implication. 1 See also
fruor at Plaut. Asin. 918, Ovid Am. 2.9b.46, Priap. 50.5. Cf.
dnoXoruto (Luc. Am. 3, Heliod. 1.15.4), Tepirop-ou, of the man
(Dioscorides, AT. 5.54.2, Meleager, A J 3 . 5.160.2) or the woman
(anon., AT. 5.201.2).

Vtor can be compared with fruor. See Plaut. Pers. 128
'numquam edepol quoiquam etiam utendam dedi’ (here the
speaker takes an earlier innocent remark in a sexual sense),
ps.-Acron, Hor. Epist. 1.17.36 'Aristippus etiam hac fama illo
perductus est, et usus Laide non etiam amore eius deuinctus
est’. Cf. usura at Plaut. Amph. 108 'is amare occepit Alcu-
menam clam uirum / usuramque eiius corporis cepit sibi, / et
grauidam fecit is earn compressu suo’ (a passage which shows
the physical reference of the usage). In the same play uxor
usuraria is used of Alcmena in her dealings with Jupiter (498,
980). Vsurarius was employed of a slave one had the use of,
but did not own (Dig. 7.8.14). Cf. abutor at Vulg. Gen. 19.8
(LXX xpdofte), 34.31. 2 Compare xP«op.at at (e.g.) Ach. Tat.
6.15.2.

(xxvi) 'Violence, corruption, defilement’, etc.

A sexual act may be emotively spoken of as an act of violence
or corruption, even if it is not regarded as such by its perpe¬
trator (or even victim). Such descriptions are nevertheless eu¬
phemistic, since they do not specify the nature of the violence
or corruption. The weakening of the euphemism into a means
of expressing an act containing no real hostility can be seen
at C1L IV. 10694 'Iualias accepit uim hila(re). Stumus
am(ator?)’ (if the reading is correct), and Petron. 140.11 'ac-
cessi temptaturus an pateretur iniuriam. nec se reiciebat a
blanditiis doctissimus puer’ (note blanditiis). The attitude that
women enjoy sexual violence (Ovid Ars 1.673 'uim licet ap-
pelles: grata est uis ista puellis’; cf. ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg.
12) can cause an emotive designation to be regarded as an
exaggeration. Hence the designation becomes subject to
weakening.

Variations of phraseology from writer to writer are due in
part to variations of personal taste, and in part to the need for

1 See Brandt, Am. 3.7.63.

2 See TLL I.241.68ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 199

constant changes of terminology as established expressions
lose force. Whereas, for example, Terence uses the verb uitio
6 times (usually with uirginem as object), and also circumlo¬
cutions with uitium (4 times), Plautus employs circumlocu¬
tions with uitium (e.g. Amph. 811), but not uitio. Some other
words and expressions are uiolo (Varro Ling. 6.80, Cic. Fam.
9.22.1), corrumpo (Ter. Heaut. 231, Sen. Contr. 1.7.4), 1 facio,
affero uim (Pall. inc. inc. 2 Ribbeck, Cic. Verr. 1.67, Sen. Contr.
1.2.2; cf. (3iotap.6<; at Men. Epitr. 453; note too Men. Her. 79),
facio iniuriam (Plautus onwards), 1 2 inquino (Petron. 25.5), pol-
luo (Sen. Contr. 4.7, ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg. 13, 39), temero
(ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg. 39). Dehonesto is used of a symbolic
violation at Aug. Ciu. 7.24. Contamino, which is rare but
classical (e.g. Sen. Contr. 7.6.16), 3 4 had a late variant attamino
(Justin 21.3.4, Aurel. Viet. Caes. 16.2, ps.-Tert. Execr. 5). At
Suet. Nero 35.4 ('quem cum ante mortem per uim conspurcas-
set: "eat nunc” inquit "mater mea et successorem meum os-
culetur” ’) conspurco refers to irrumatio.* I should not claim
that the above list is at all exhaustive.

Verbs meaning 'defile’ and the like are not exclusively used
of the aggressor’s violation of an unwilling victim. In the ter¬
minology of some moralisers (e.g. Christians in late antiquity)
a person who engages willingly in intercourse may 'defile him¬
self (see, e.g. the use of maculo at Cypr. Epist. 13.5, Aug. Ciu.
1.19). For the 'defilement’ suffered by the partners in a sexual
act, cf. Plaut. True. 381 'uerum tempestas quondam, dum uixi,
fuit / quom inter nos sordebamus alter de altero’. 5 Conversely
one who abstains from intercourse may be 'pure’: note Plaut.
Asin. 807 'tot noctes reddat spurcas quot pure habuerit’. What
is considered 'impure’ may vary from time to time. When
Martial uses purus suggestively (with 'impurity’ in mind) he
is usually alluding to oral sex (6.66.5, 9.67.7,14.70.2; cf. 9.63.2,
in reference to pedicatio ).

1 See TLL IV.1056.35ff. The verb is common with uirgo, uxor and matrona
as object. It is often used in prose (e.g. Seneca the Elder), but not by Cicero in
this sense.

2 See TLL VIU.1670.67ff.

3 TLL IV.630.82ff.

4 See Housman, Classical Papers, p. 733.

5 See TLL VII.1.1813.66ff., reporting E. Fraenkel. For the use of de here
(alter de altero), cf. Cure. 51 Tam a me pudica est’.

200

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(xxvii) 'Insult’, etc.

Insulto is used of different types of insulting or humiliating
sexual act. The anonymous senator ap. Suet. Iul. 22.2 who
picked up Caesar’s phrase 'insultaturum omnium capitibus’
(for which see Virg. Aen. 8.570) made it refer to irrumatio: 'ac
negante quodam per contumeliam facile hoc ulli feminae fore’.
Cf. Amob. Nat. 2.45 'insultarent uirginibus’. At Suet. Tib. 45
inludo is used exactly as insulto at Iul. 22.2: 'feminarum . . .
capitibus . . . inludere’. Cf. Tac. Ann. 13.17 'tradunt plerique
eorum temporum scriptores crebris ante exitium diebus inlu-
sum isse pueritiae Britannici Neronem’ (of pedicatio ), 15.72
(of fututio). See further Min. Fel. Oct. 25.3. 1

Terence’s use of ludificor at Eun. 645 'quin etiam insuper
scelus, postquam ludificatust uirginem . . .’ may have been a
rendition of vPp(£eiv (cf. Men. Sam. 508). Ludificor achieved
no currency. 2 Note Donatus’ comment on the implication of the
verb: 'et mire "ludificatus” potius quam "complexus est” aut
tale aliquid, quod amorem indicaret’.

(xxviii) 'Harass, annoy, disturb’

This is presumably the force of sollicito at C. Gracchus Orat.
frg. 27 'si ulla meretrix domum meam introiuit aut cuiusquam
seruulus propter me sollicitatus est’. Cf. uexo at Petron. 139.1
'torum frequenti tractatione uexaui, amoris mei quasi quan-
dam imaginem’ (here the bed is treated as if it were the lover;
cf. Auson. Epigr. 106.15, p. 351 P.), Mart. 11.81.1 'cum sene
communem uexat spado Dindymus Aeglen / et iacet in medio
sicca puella toro’ (cf. 8.46.7, of the female 'working on’ the
male). In a few places uexo seems to suggest agitated but futile
amatory activity.

(xxix) 'Disgrace’

Stuprum originally meant 'disgrace’ in general, as Festus de¬
monstrates: p. 418 'stuprum pro turpitudine antiquos dixisse
apparet in Nelei carmine: "foede stupreque castigor cotidie” ’.
See, e.g. Naev. Pun. 47 (quoted by Festus) 'sin illos deserant
fortissimos uiros, / magnum stuprum populo fieri per gentis’.

1 For insulto, see TLL VII.1.2044.25f., and for illudo, TLL VII. 1. 389.76CT.
a See TLL Vn.2.1767.64fT.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 201

But it came to be specialised of a sexual disgrace, 1 i.e. an illicit
sexual act, whether an adulterous liaison or a forcible violation
(as distinct from an act committed with a prostitute). The act
might be homosexual (Sen. Contr. 3.8 tit.) or heterosexual.
The word is not necessarily used of a violation perpetrated
against the will of the victim. In a context such as Sen. Contr.
6.8 'incesta est etiam sine stupro quae cupit stuprum’, 'a
woman is unchaste if she wants sex, even if she has not had
it’ (Winterbottom), or Sail. Cat. 23.3 'erat ei cum Fuluia . . .
stupri uetus consuetudo’, it implies disapproval on the part of
the user. But often it denotes a forcible violation (e.g. Sail.
Hist. frg. 3.98, Tac. Ann. 14.31). The range of sexual acts
which might be described thus was unlimited: note Tac. Ann.
16.19 'nouitatem cuiusque stupri perscripsit’. The example at
Col. 7.6.3 shows no weakening of the evaluative sense, since
Columella is describing incestuous behaviour by a young goat:
'dum adhuc uberibus alitur, matrem stupro superuenit’. Var¬
ious derivatives are attested ( stupro , constupro, stuprator).

Probrum also tended to be specialised in this way, but the
general sense was not lost. For the general meaning, see Plaut.
True. 459, Cic. S. Rose. 48, and for the sexual (already in early
Latin), Cato Orat. frg. 221 'si cum alieno uiro probri quid fecit’,
Caecil. 224 'inhoneste honestam grauidauit probro’, Cic. Phil.
2.99. The sexual sense predominates in Plautus.

For turpitudo of a sexual misdemeanour, see ps.-Ambros.
Laps. Virg. 21 'occulta et furtiua turpitudine constupratur’ (cf.
Aug. Ciu. 1.19). Note too Plaut. Amph. 883 'ita me probri, /
stupri, dedecoris a uiro argutam meo!’ (cf. 898; cf. aurxuvTi at
Men. Dysc. 243), ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg. 15 'non sorores hoc
ex te dedecus expectabant’. The 'disgrace’ in the last two pas¬
sages is that of the female; contrast, for example, Caecil. 224
above, where the disgraceful act is that of the male. It is
typical of such euphemisms that they may assign the disgrace
to either partner, in accordance with the outlook of the
speaker.

The specialisation is already apparent in Plautus.

202 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(xxx) Pecco, etc.

Pecco was used of illicit sex, as at Mart. 1.34.2 'apertis, Lesbia,
semper / liminibus peccas nec tua furta tegis’. Cf. Hor. Serm.
1.2.63, Ovid Ars 2.558. 1 The example at Mart. 3.85.2 ('non hac
peccatum est parte, marite, tibi’) is physically more explicit
than most. Various derivatives also take on a sexual sense
occasionally (e.g. peccatum at Aug. Ciu. 1.18, peccator at ps.-
Tert. Execr. 6). Cf. e^apurp-ravto at Men. Dysc. 290. Sometimes
even stronger language is used: note ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg.
26 'furtiuum scelus deduxit in publicum’.

(xxxi) Names of peoples

It is a common habit to ascribe to foreign peoples different
vices. Hence in Greek a number of verbs derived from proper
names were coined to describe various types of sexual behav¬
iour (e.g. <j>oivua£€iv). Latin speakers too attached

vices to neighbouring peoples, as to the Oscans (Porph. on Hor.
Serm. 1.5.62, Fest. p. 204), but they do not seem to have coined
verbs like those above. But a comparable phrase is found in a
speech of Trimalchio, Petron. 63.3 'a puero uitam Chiam gessi’
(= 'I submitted to pedicatio'). The Chians were notorious for
pathic behaviour. TTie phrase can be classified as a metonymy,
since the people in question were linked with the vice. The
link is in this case not one of temporal concomitance, as in
most of the above euphemisms.

4. Some elliptical euphemisms

An indelicate verb or noun can be omitted (a sentence may,
for example, be broken off: aposiopesis), or replaced by a pron¬
oun, pro-verb or equivalent. I shall not deal with elliptical
euphemisms systematically here, because I have discussed the
matter elsewhere. The distinction between metonymy and el¬
lipse is often a fine one; some of the euphemisms in the pre¬
ceding section could be interpreted as lacking an indelicate
complement (e.g. duco, ire ad).

1 See Nisbet and Hubbard I on Hor. Corn. 1.27.17.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 203
(i) Res

For res used of intercourse, see Varro Men. 369 'si non plus
testiculorum offenderis quam in castrato pecore in Apulia,
uincor non esse masculum ad rem’; cf. Marc. Emp. 33.73 're
peracta’. 1 The more specific Veneris res at Lucr. 2.173, 5.848
can be compared with Theocr. Epigr. 4.4 (AF. 9.437) KimpiSos
ep-ya. Res is so vague that it could have varying implications.
At Caes. Gall. 6.21.5 ('intra annum uero uicesimum feminae
notitiam habuisse in turpissimis habent rebus; cuius rei
nulla est occultatio, quod et promiscue in fiuminibus per-
luuntur. ..’) cuius rei certainly includes intercourse, but the
following clauses suggest that it means, rather more generally,
'sexual matters’. And at Salv. Gub. 7.72 ('adeo omnia paene
compita, omnes uias aut quasi foueae libidinum interciderant
aut quasi retia praetexebant, ut etiam, qui ab hac re penitus
abhorrerent, tamen uitare uix possent’) 2 haec res expresses the
outward signs of prostitution.

Rem habere, 'have intercourse (with a prostitute)’ is differ¬
ent: it is an expression from commerce (= 'have dealings with’):
e.g. Plaut. Bacch. 564 'tibi non erat meretricum aliarum Ath-
enis copia / quibuscum haberes rem’ (cf. Ter. Eun. 138); for
synonymous expressions, see Plaut. True. 94 'cum ea quoque
etiam mihi fuit commercium’, Ter. Heaut. 388 'nos, quibuscum
est res, non sinunt’. 3 Contrast Mart. 5.61.14 'res uxoris agit?
res ullas crispulus iste? / res non uxoris, res agit iste tuas’ (the
adulterer is 'conducting the business’ of the husband, with the
wife). Different again is Ter. Eun. 741f., where in the prover¬
bial uerba / res opposition res is given a sexual force: 'usque
adeo ego illi(u)s ferre possum ineptiam et magnifica uerba, /
uerba dum sint; uerum enim si ad rem conferentur, uapulabit’
(cf. 740 'atqui si illam digito attigerit uno .. .’).

In Greek note to 6eiov in the Cologne fragment of

Archilochus (10). 4 At Adaeus, AF. 10.20.1 fjv Tiva koXov iStqs,
ev6vs to Trpd'yp.a KpoTeCaOw ('let the matter be instantly ham¬
mered into shape’) an expression of proverbial type has been

1 Other examples can be found in Adams, ’Euphemism’, pp,126f. See further
Heraeus, Die Sprache des Petronim und die Glossen, p. 34 = Kleine Schriflen
(cited above, p. 42, n. 4), pp. 116f.; cf. Preston, p. 35, n. 57.

2 Cited by Opelt, 957.

5 See further Preston, p. 35.

4 See R. Merkelbach and M. L. West, ZPE 14 (1974), pp. 97ff„ with West ad
loc. (p. 105).

204 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

given a sexual implication, with -n-pa^xa suggestive of homo¬
sexual intercourse.

(ii) Facio

Facio ('do (it)’) is frequently substituted for indelicate verbs in
Latin (cf. irpaTreiv at Aeschin. in Timarch. 160, 8pav at Strato,
AT. 12.210.1). 1 Its currency in ordinary speech is shown by its
use three times in freedmen’s speeches in the Cena Trimal-
chionis of Petronius of the excretory functions (47.4, 62.4,
66.2), and once of a sexual act (45.8: see below). For excretion,
see further Plaut. Pseud. 1178 'etiamne - facere solitun es -
scin quid loquar’ (or is the reference to masturbation?). In
sexual senses facio was used very loosely. At Mart. 1.46.1 it
expresses the active part in homosexual intercourse ('propero,
fac si fads’), whereas at Petron. 45.8 it seems to be used of the
passive role ('quid seruus peccauit, qui coactus est facere?’
(= pedicationem pati )). At Ovid Am. 3.4.4 ('quae, quia non
liceat, non facit, ilia facit’) the female is subject (cf. Lucr.
4.1195), but the verb could also be substituted for futuo or
pedico (of the male) (e.g. Tert. Nat. 1.16.4).

(iii) Factum

At Juv. 6.271 ('cum simulat gemitus occulti conscia facti’)
factum is used suggestively of a misdemeanour of a sexual
kind (cf. 279 'iacet in serui complexibus aut equitis’), but in
classical Latin the noun was not regularly specialised. 2 Later
factum (of intercourse) enjoyed a literary vogue. Note anon.,
Baucis et Traso 13 'spondet.. . / uirginis alloquium, contactus,
oscula, factum’. Here intercourse is presented as the culmi¬
nating event in a scale of amatory activities, which seems to
derive from Donatus, Ter. Eun. 640 (quoted above, p. 185).
The terminology in the two passages is almost identical, except
that coitus has been replaced by factum. See further Pamphilus
695 (with a demonstrative). Fortia facta (with a sexual impli¬
cation) at Maxim. Eleg. 5.136 is a military metaphor Cbrave
deeds’, of aggressive sexuality).

1 See further Opelt, 951. For bibliography on facio, see Adams, ‘Euphemism’,
p. 123, n. 4. A collection of examples can be found at TLL VI.1.121.40fF.

2 At Ter. Eun. 954 'earn istic uitiauit miser. / ille ubi id resciuit factum frater
...’, factum is verbal.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 205
(iv) Actus

For the verbal use of ago in a sexual context, see Juv. 6.58 'nil
actum in montibus’ ('no sexual act was committed in the moun¬
tains’). The noun actus usually has a specifying adjective when
it is applied to intercourse: e.g. ps.-Acron Hor. Serm. 1.2.35
'subigitare, ut habemus in Terentio de ipso actu turpi’; cf.
Apul. Plat. 2.6 ( uoluptarius ), ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg. 22 (ig-
nominiosus), Oribas. Syn. 1.7 Aa, p. 40.4 M0rland ( uenerius ).
But at Maxim. Eleg. 5.135 ('non tibi semper iners, non mollis
conuenit actus, / mixtaque sunt ludis fortia facta tuis’) actus
(= 'a sexual act’) is not pinned down to the sexual sphere by
its adjectives; cf. Amob. Nat. 5.21 'redit ad prioris actus’.

5. Terminology appropriate to animals

Latin, like other languages, had sets of words for parts of the
animal anatomy (e.g. armus, pellis, corium, ungula, suffrago,
gamba, corona ), for animal colours (particularly of the horse:
see Mul. Chir. 960), and for certain animal bodily functions
(e.g. subare , catulio ; cf. the various terms indicating the noises
made by different animals). The sexual behaviour of animals
also attracted special terms. A list of the appropriate verbs in
Greek is given by Pollux, 5.92: icai p/riv to puyviKTOcn em p.ev
twv aXoywv ficnveiv, empaiveiv, oxevttv, pipa£eiv, (jvv8vd£eiv,
owSva^eo-fioa, eTra-yecrOcu, koiI eiri ovwv tSiov to ovoPcrreiv. 1 It is
convenient to collect the Latin material in one section, though
some terms are metaphorical, others metonymies. Words
proper to animals are typically transferred to humans with
abusive intent (cf. PaCvw, n. 1). Examples will be given below.

Verbs of climbing had a particular applicability to mounting
by animals. The first sexual example of scando is in a Plautine
joke (Pseud. 23 'ut opinor, quaerunt litterae hae sibi liberos:
/ alia aliam scandit’), but cf. Laber. 56 (?) 'scando una exoleto
patienti in catulientem lupam’ (if lupa means 'prostitute’, ter¬
minology appropriate to animals may be used: cf. catulientem).
Col. 6.37.10 'ne femina conluctari aut admissario ascendenti

1 With this last verb, compare Meleager’s coinage avSpopofreiv, AP. 5.208.2.
For fkt-rew, which is not given by Pollux, see Shipp, pp. 137f. See also Shipp,
pp. 126f. on ftaCvu), used in classical Greek of animals mounting, but showing
a tendency later to be used as an equivalent of

206 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

auertere se possit’, ibid, 'ut . . . facilem sui tergoris ascensum
ab editiore parte minori quadrupedi praebeat’, Apul. Met. 7.21
'festiuus hie amasio humo sordida prostratam mulierem ibi¬
dem incoram omnium gestiebat inscendere’ (of the ass), Vulg.
Gen. 30.41 'igitur quando primo tempore ascendebantur oues\
avaPatvo) is used of stallions at Hdt. 1.192.3 (contrast Aria-
toph. frg. 329 dvap-rjvou rr)v "/evaiKa (3ai3Xop.cn). For em(3ouva),
see above, empaivw could also be used of boarding a ship; this
use is transferred metaphorically to the male role by Antiphi-
lus, AT. 9.415.7.

Salio was used of the male animal mounting, or, in the
passive, of the female mounted: for the active, see Varro Rust.
2.4.8 'uerris octo mensum incipit salire’, and for the passive,
Rust. 2.2.14 'neque pati oportet minores quam bimas saliri’
(cf. Ovid Ars 2.485). The compound adsilio is quoted by the
TLL only from Col. 6.37.9 'adsilientem admissarium calcibus
proturbat’. Salax (< salio) was applied predominantly to
animals (indicating a desire to mount): e.g. Varro Rust. 3.9.5,
Ovid Fast. 4.771, Col. 7.9.1, 8.2.9, 8.2.12; cf. 8.2.13, 8.11.5
salacitas. Transferred to men (or gods) salax was pejorative or
implied sexual excess: so Priap. 34.1 'deo salad’. It has so far
lost its primary sense at Priap. 26.5 that it is used of females:
’totis mihi noctibus fatigant / uicinae sine fine prurientes /
uemis passeribus salaciores’.

The possibility that insilio at Pompon. 40 ('et ubi insilui in
coleatum eculeum, ibi tolutim tortor’) refers to a sexual act
must be treated with caution. It is typically the male qui salit
(Plin. Nat. 10.160 refers to a popular belief, according to which
female doves sometimes adopt the male role), but here it would
have to be the male ( equus ) who was mounted. Perhaps the
'rider’ was another male (cf. Petron. 24.4).

The frequency of ineo in veterinary writers and contexts is
such that it must have been almost a technical term of
veterinarians. 1 For the use de hominibus, see p. 190.

Admitto (cf. Pi(3d£a>) was the technical term for the bringing
of one animal to the other (usually the male to the female, but
note Varro Rust. 2.2.14, 2.4.7, Plin. Nat. 10.180), with an
implied or expressed human agent (see Varro Rust. 2.7.8,
where the groom is agent). 2 Two common derivatives are ad-

1 See TLL VII.1.1296.37ff.

* See TLL I.751.60ff. for examples.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 207

missarius ('stallion’) and admissura, the verbal noun for the
act of admitting the male. Occasionally a loose use of a word
of this root brings it close to the sense ’futuo, fututio’ (with the
human agent forgotten), as in the pleonastic sentence Mul.
Chir. 753 'nec hi admittendi non erunt ad admissuram’ (=
fututionem). Cf. Mul. Chir. 751 'hi quidem nec admittere de¬
bent, qui uno testiculo erunt’ (the use of the active instead of
the expected passive virtually gives admittere the meaning
'futuere'), Veg. Mul. 3.7.3 'eo anno, quo admissum faciunt, non
sit ei uena laxanda’ (the admissarii are subject of faciunt). At
Juv. 6.329 the cry 'iam fas est, admitte uiros’ is ascribed pe¬
joratively to women, who by implication look upon uiri as
mere stallions. Cf. Sen. N.Q. 1.16.5 'spectabat admissos sibi
pariter in omnia uiros’. There is no question here of a third
party acting as agent: 'admitted to him’ = 'whom he admitted
to himself. At Ovid Ars 2.732 there is a mixture of metaphors:
'admisso subdere calcar equo’. The female is spoken of as rider,
but admisso is appropriate to mating. 1 For admissarius used
derogatively of a human fututor (or pedicator), see Plaut. Mil.
1112, Cic. Pis. 69, Sen. N.Q. 1.16.2, Anth. Lat. 149.9.

Various occasional synonyms of admitto turn up in the vet¬
erinary language: e.g. applico (Mul. Chir. 744), impono (Col.
6.27.10, Mul. Chir. 743-5; cf. Juv. 6.334 'imposito clunem sum-
mittat asello’), 2 mitto = immitto (Mul. Chir. 752), admoueo
(Col. 6.37.9) and iniungo (Col. 6.27.3, 6.37.2).

Superuenio was used of the male animal ('cover 1 ; cf. oxcwv),
without a human agent implied: e.g. Col. 6.24.3, 7.6.3. Impleo
was applied particularly to insemination by the male animal. 3
For the word transferred to humans or gods, see Ovid Met.
6.111,11.265, Luc. 8.409, Tert. leiun. 7.6.

It is a milder form of imagery when animal terminology of
a non-sexual kind is applied metaphorically to humans with
various types of sexual implications. Subacta at Hor. Carm.
2.5.1, as we have seen (p. 155), is a metaphor from the break¬
ing in of animals. For ferre iugum (of the female role) in the
same passage, see Plaut. Cure. 50ff. 'iamne ea fert iugum? /
PH. tam a me pudica est quasi soror mea sit, nisi / si est

1 CIL rV.8939 'Maritimus cunnu linget afssibus) HD, uirgines ammittit’ has
a different sexual use of admitto.

2 For impono, see TLL VH.1.662.32ff.

3 For examples de bestiis, see TLL VII.1.633.67flf.

208 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

osqulando quippiam inpudicior’, Catull. 68.118 'indomitam
ferre iugum docuit’. 1

6. Masturbor and its synonyms

Various verbs used of masturbation have been mentioned
already: frico (pp. 146 n. 1, 184), sollicito (p. 184), tango
(p. 186), tracto (p. 186), contrecto (p. 186), truso, trudo (p. 146
n. 1), tero (p. 183), haereo (p. 181), deglubo, glubo (?), rado (?)
(p. 168); cf. p. 122 on manus fututrix, p. 153 on molo, and
p. 161 on thalassionem indico manibus libidinosis. Of these
frico was probably in colloquial or vulgar use; it tends to have
an idiomatic dative complement, and it was capable of being
used elliptically (with mentula deleted). Tracto and sollicito
were also common; it can be conjectured, but not proved, that
they were more respectable in tone than frico. The status of
(de)glubo and trudo / truso is impossible to determine. The
other words were probably only occasional euphemisms for the
act. Female masturbation is rarely mentioned. (De)glubo and
trudo would have been appropriate only to the male, but the
other words were probably not restricted to either a male or
female object (note frico at CIL X.4483 and tango at Ovid Ars
2.713).

Various other isolated euphemisms are attested. Foueo was
often used of embracing, not necessarily of a sexual kind. 2 At
Tib. 1.6.6 ('iam Delia furtim / nescio quem tacita callida nocte
fouet’) the context is erotic; at Priap. 83.25 the verb is specif¬
ically used of masturbation: 'puella nec iocosa te leui manu /
fouebit’. For palpo of masturbation, see Juv. 10.206 'et, quam-
uis tota palpetur nocte, iacebit’, Amob. Nat. 5.9 'palpabat res
intimas’. Digitum intingo at Apul. Met. 2.7 ('beatus, cui per-
miseris illuc digitum intingere’) is a double entendre perhaps
taken from the Greek version (cf. eveP<xi|/<rro at ps.-Luc. Asinus

1 See Nisbet and Hubbard II on Hor. Carm. 2.5.1.1 am at a loss to understand
why Nisbet and Hubbard (p. 78) find 'crudity’ in the imagery. The feminist
(?) remark ( loc. cit.) that 'in a male-dominated world the consequences of this
view [i.e. that 'the sexual instincts of men and beasts are essentially the
same’] were applied particularly to women’ is also puzzling. It is admitted
that the poet may see 'himself sometimes as the male animal’. The comparison
is scarcely flattering to a man. In various passages cited above the man is
likened pejoratively to an animal.

2 TLL VLl.1219.32ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 209

6). Juvenal’s 'praeputia ducit’ (6.238) describes in literal terms
the type of act expressed metaphorically by excorio (cf. de-
glubo) in the spurcum additamentum at Apul. Met. 10.21 'has-
tam mei inguinis niuei spurci<ti>ei pluscule excoria<n>s
emundauit’. Emundo here can be compared with the meta¬
phorical exmucco at CIL IV. 1391 'Veneria Maximo mentla
exmuccaut per uindemia tota’. It is not specified by what
means Veneria achieved her result.

In addition to the above verbs there are constant circumlo¬
cutions and suggestive phrases, particularly in epigram, con¬
taining digitus , manus or an equivalent. It seems to have been
a characteristic of popular sexual humour in Latin to allude
obliquely to masturbation by such means. The 'left hand’ and
the arnica manus were particularly suggestive of the act. In
many cultures the left hand is regarded as the 'unclean’ hand,
used for sexual and excretory purposes. 1 See Lucil. 307 'at laeua
lacrimas muttoni absterget arnica’, Ovid Ars 2.706 'nec manus
in lecto laeua iacebit iners’, Mart. 9.41.If. 'paelice laeua /
uteris et Veneri seruit arnica manus’, 11.73.4 'succurrit pro te
saepe sinistra mihi’, Priap. 33.6 'Set arnica manus’ (contrast
Mart. 11.29.1 'languida cum uetula tractare uirilia dextra'\
here a woman performs the tractatio ). With 'seruit arnica man¬
us’ and 'succurrit . . . sinistra’ above, cf. Mart. 2.43.14 'mihi
succurrit pro Ganymede manus’. The phrase may have been
idiomatic. For other circumlocutions in Martial, see 6.23.3
'manibus blandis . .. instes’, 9.41.8 'mandasset manibus gau-
dia foeda suis’, 11.22.6 'et faciunt digiti praecipitantque uir-
um\ 11.29.8 'nil opus est digitis’ (cf. 1.92.3), 11.104.11f. 'nec
uoce iuuare / nec digitis’.

It remains to mention masturbor, which clearly means 'mas¬
turbate’ at Mart. 9.41.7 'omnia perdiderat si masturbatus ut-
erque / mandasset manibus gaudia foeda suis’ and 11.104.13
'masturbabantur Phrygii post ostia serui, / Hectoreo quotiens
sederat uxor equo’ (cf. masturbator at 14.203.2). The etymology
of masturbor is a mystery, though there has been some accept¬
ance for the derivation from man- + stuprare, with the second
element remodelled on the analogy of turbare. 2 A recent

1 See Robert Hertz, 'The pre-eminence of the right hand: a study in religious
polarity’, transl. by R. Needham, in R. Needham (ed.), Right and Left, Essays
on Dual Symbolic Classification (Chicago and London, 1973), p. 17, with n.
77.

1 For a collection of etymologies, see Bader, La formation des composts
nominaux du latin (cited above, p. 73, n. 1), p. 261, n. 25.

210 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

attempt by Judith P. Hallett 1 to derive the verb from mas
(allegedly used in an unattested sense 'male genitalia’) + tur-
bare is unconvincing, and beset by mistakes of a phonological
and morphological kind. Hallett’s arguments against man- as
the first element of the compound are quite unacceptable. It is
not true to say (p. 303) that in compounds in which man- is
instrumental it shows a -u or -i before the second element (cf.
manceps, 'the one who takes in hand’); in various places Hal¬
lett seems to be under the impression that the first element of
a nominal compound is inflected like the components of a
sentence. There was a consonant stem man- (alongside
manu-) which stands as the first element of various old com¬
pounds, regardless of its syntactic function. It is seen clearly
in mancus, mansues ('accustomed to the hand’; man- here has
dative function), mantele, malluuiae (with accusative func¬
tion). Indeed in the small class of compounds which show a
consonant stem directly attached to a second element, man- is
particularly well represented; 2 mas- is not represented at all.
If man- is the first element, to explain the s- spelling one has
to posit a second element with initial s + consonant (such as
stuprare). Hallett’s notion that, on the analogy of mansuescere,
a 'union of manus and stuprare should spawn *manstuprare’
(p. 302) is ludicrous. In threefold groups of consonants of which
the second was s, the normal development was for the first to
be assimilated to the s and lost, with compensatory length¬
ening (e.g. subsisto but *subs-capio > suscipio). 3 The contrast
mansuescere / *mastuprare would be perfectly regular.

Hallett adduces not an iota of evidence for mas = 'male
genitalia’. The claim that in emasculare 'the connection be¬
tween mas and the masculine member [is] notably manifest’
(p. 304) is a red herring. Just as erudio is a derivative of the
adjective rudis, with a prefix which derives its function from
the completive aspect of various prepositional prefixes in Latin
(lit. 'bring to an end the state of being rudis'), so emasculare
is a derivative of the adjective masculus (= 'bring to an end
the state of being male’). It is not a direct derivative of mas,
and carries no notion of 'removing the mas’.

It is the second element of the compound which is the more

1 Glotta 54 (1976), pp. 292ff.

2 See Bader, pp. 14f.

3 See, for example, P. Monteil, Elements de phonitique et de morphologic
du latin (Paris, 1974), p. 82.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 211

problematical. Stuprare is the best candidate so far put for¬
ward, but it does not altogether carry conviction (though not
for the bizarre reasons presented by Hallett, p. 299). But it is
as certain as can be that man- furnishes the first part of the
compound. The spelling mas- is phonetically explicable. The
derivation is morphologically plausible, since man- was a pro¬
ductive formant of compounds; and it is semantically attrac¬
tive, because manus commonly has a place in references to
masturbation (see above). The problem is not solved by sub¬
stituting the defensible man- for the indefensible mas-. The
question can only be left open. Mascarpio (Petron. 134.5),
which is probably an abstract verbal noun, was no doubt
formed on the analogy of masturbator / -atio.

Masturbor could not have been a recent formation when
Martial used it; otherwise its structure would have been trans¬
parent. But I am not convinced that it was a current subliter¬
ary vulgarism. The examples both of masturbor and
masturbatio in Martial are in mythological contexts. If mas¬
turbor were a vulgarism, one might have expected it to surface
in the literature rather more often, and in contexts other than
these; masturbation is, after all, mentioned often enough in
sexual literature. It may have been an obsolescent verb which
Martial resuscitated.

7. Substitutes for fellare and irrumare

One is struck even more by the variety of substitutes for fello
and irrumo than by the substitutes for masturbor. Some of
these have been mentioned earlier: futuo and lingua fututrix
(p. 122), the metaphor of 'eating’ (pp. 138ff.), 'silencing’
(p. 127), haereo and its compounds (p. 181), tero (p. 183), tango
(p. 186), contrecto (p. 186), capite demisso (p. 192), insulto, in-
ludo (p. 200), the implication of purus (p. 199), conspurco
(p. 199), morigeror (p. 164 n. 7); see also p. 128 on the various
ways of phrasing a threat of irrumatio. 1 To these expressions
add Varro Men. 282 'ut flumen offendit buccam Volumnio’,
Hor. Epod. 8.20 'quod ut superbo prouoces ab inguine, / ore
adlaborandum est tibi’, Mart. 3.75.5 'coepisti puras opibus cor-
rumpere buccas’ (for bucca in such a context, see Varro Men.

1 Numerous expressions have been collected by Krenkel, p. 78.

212 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

282 above, and Mart. 11.61.2), 11.46.6 'summa petas’ (cf. Priap.
74.2 'barbatis non nisi summa petet’, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 105,
p. 216 P. 'perfidus alta petens’), 1 11.98.23 'facias amicum bas-
iare quern nolis’, 2 Apul. Met. 8.29 'nudatum supinatumque
iuuenem exsecrandis oribus flagitabant’, H.A., Comm. 1.7 'ore
quoque pollutus et constupratus fuit’, Lactant. Inst. 6.23.11
'furor ne capiti quidem parcit’. Note too Donatus’ interpret¬
ation of os praebui at Ter. Adelph. 215.

At Mart. 2.72.3 ('os tibi percisum quanto non ipse Latinus /
uilia Panniculi percutit ora sono’) os ... percisum probably
refers to irrumatio (in a pun: for os percidere used literally of
a blow in the face, see Plaut. Cas. 404, Pers. 283). The incident
had occurred at a dinner party. The victim, Postumus, denied
that it had taken place, but Martial declares that Caecilius,
the perpetrator, had witnesses: 8 'quid quod habet testes, Pos-
tume, Caecilius?’. Taken literally the epigram has little point,
but there is surely a double entendre in the last line (with
testes also referring to the testicles). The phrase 'habet testes
... Caecilius’ would mean 'Caecilius does have testicles, is
after all a man’ (and hence is capable of an active, as distinct
from pathic, sexual act). The expression coleos (et sim .) habere
= 'to be a man’ was proverbial (Petron. 44.14; cf. Pers. 1.103).
The poem gains point when it is noted that often in Book 2
Postumus is said to have a foul mouth (10, 12, 21, 22, 23).
There is a similar pun on the sexual sense of testes at Priap.
15.7 'magnis testibus ista res agetur’; cf. also Mart. 7.62.6. 3

1 For 'seeking" (peto) a sexual part, see CIL XI.6721.5 'peto [lalndicam Ful-
uiae’, 7 'pet[o] Octauia(ni) culum’, Suet. Tib. 44.1 'morsuque sensim adpeten-
tes’, ps.-Ambros. Laps. Virg. 23 'cum ad illud opus nefarium tua membra
peterentur’. Also of significance in these passages is the distancing of the
reference to the oral act by the avoidance of os. This type of euphemism is
common. I have noted the following more general words or expressions sub¬
stituted for os or lingua: caput (anon. ap. Suet. lul. 22.2, Sen. Ben. 4.31.4,
Mart. 2.42.2, 2.70.5, 3.81.5, 6.26.1,14.74.2, Juv. 6.49, 6.301, Priap. 22.2, Suet.
Tib. 45), sanctissima pars corporis (Cic. Red. Sen. 11), barba (Juv. 9.4), uultus
(Aurel. Viet. Caes. 5.7), facies (Mart. 3.87.4, Auson. Cent. Nupt. 104, p. 216
P.).

2 See Housman, Classical Papers, p. 733.

3 It is worth noting the presence of rumor in line 6 of the poem in question
('Caecilium tota rumor in urbe sonaf). It has been pointed out by Forberg, p.
287 n.q. that Martial a number of times uses rumor when alluding to irru¬
matio / fellatio: 3.73.5 'mollem credere te uirum uolebam, / sed rumor negat
esse te cinaedum’, 3.80.2 'rumor ait linguae te tamen esse malae’, 3.87.1
'narrat te rumor, Chione, numquam esse fututam’. It is possible that verbal
puns were intended.

The Vocabulary Relating to Sexual Acts 213

Martial sometimes uses the phrase nil negare suggestively,
= fellare: see 12.79.4, and cf. 4.12.2, 11.49.12, 12.71.

This does not exhaust the methods by which oral acts were
expressed in Latin. Frequently writers merely allude to the
impurity, or, less specifically, the suspect character, of some¬
one’s mouth (e.g. Cic. Har. Resp. 11), tongue (e.g. Cic. Dom.
25, 47), breath (Petron. 9.6), kisses (e.g. Juv. 6.51) or saliva
(Catull. 99.10). 1

1 Here is a collection (unclassified) of such passages: Catull. 78a.2, 79.4,
80.1f., Cic. Dom. 26, Sest. Ill, Cael. 78, Pis. 8 (reading osculo), Sen. Contr.
9.2.11, Sen. Epist. 87.16, Mart. 1.94.2, 2.12, 2.15, 2.21, 2.42, 3.80.2, 3.81.6,
6.55.5 (cf. 4.43), 10.22.3,11.25.2,11.61.If, 12.74.9fi, Juv. 5.127fi, 6.05fi, 6.014-
16, Suet. Gramm. 23.6.

Chapter Six

Conclusion

1. Sociolinguistic and contextual variation

The vocabulary of sex cannot readily be distributed into dif¬
ferent social dialects in Latin. Basic obscenities were used by
all classes. It is true that graffiti scrawled by semi-literates
are full of obscenities, but members of the educated classes
also made use of such words in appropriate contexts. One finds
mentula, uerpa, cunnus, futuo, pedico, irrumo and fello used
in much the same ways by Catullus and Martial in epigram
as by scribblers on the walls of Pompeii. Augustus directed
sexual abuse at Antony in the same terms as those used by
the ordinary inhabitants of Pompeii (Mart. 11.20). 'Fescenni-
nes’ composed by him against Pollio (Macr. Sat. 2.4.21) must
have been couched in the same language. Various other men
of distinction composed obscene or erotic verses (see Mart. 8.
prooem., Plin. Epist. 4.14.3-4, 5.3, 7.4). There were of course
circumstances in which obscenities were not tolerated by the
educated, as for example in oratory and in various literary
genres. But a distinction has to be made between 'vulgarisms’
(lower-class usages, often displaying morphological and pho¬
netic deviations from the educated norm) and obscenities. Vul¬
garisms in this narrow sense were largely alien to literary
genres and no doubt to educated speech.

But it should not be assumed that in Vulgar Latin there
were no special designations for the sexual parts or sexual
acts. The slang and private registers of the lower classes are
largely a closed book. A few possible cases of lower-class terms
for the mentula are strutheum, titus and turtur, but the status
of these is not absolutely certain. *Caraculum and uirga, both
of which survive in Romance, may have been current in var-

Conclusion

215

ieties of lower-class speech, particularly in late antiquity. Eu-
gium, spurium and calo, like strutheum, look like the slang of
the brothel. Empty curses of the type so common in English
(e.g. fuck X, I’ll be buggered) do not find their way into liter¬
ature, but they can be paralleled in graffiti (C/L IV. 2360
uerpafm) (comedam), DieAntike 15 (1939), p. 103 irrima med¬
icos). Catullus has a weakened, metaphorical use of irrumo,
but it is possible that weakening of sexual verbs was more
characteristic of popular than educated slang. Another such
curse is that containing laecasin (used by a freedman in Pe-
tronius); it was certainly a popular borrowing, introduced from
a curse which must already have existed in Greek.

It would be a mistake, of course, to assume that the sexual
language of the lower classes was exclusively obscene or
coarse. The euphemisms delecto, satisfacio and, most notably,
facio are all found in speeches by the freedmen in Petronius,
where basic obscenities are rare. But there is one coarse meta¬
phor in the Cena Trimalchionis which is worthy of special
mention here, because it demonstrates nicely that sexual slang
tends to spread across class boundaries. The intensive debattuo
is used in exactly the same context by Trimalchio as the sim¬
ilar intensives perdepso and permolo in Catullus and Horace
(of sexual relations with someone else’s wife). Apuleius’ dedolo
is also applied to an adulterous liaison. Intensified metaphors
would undoubtedly have been employed in the coarse speech
of males of all classes, often as designations for illicit sex.
Other intensives seen above are percido and concido.

While there are few demonstrably lower-class sexual terms
attested, some learned terms could be quoted which would not
have been heard among the lower classes. We have suggested,
for example, that scholastic metaphors had an artificial fla¬
vour. Various caiques on Greek words in the scientific
language had no place in ordinary speech. The different mean¬
ings given to uefetrum, as well as its distribution, suggest that
it was an obscure word domiciled in scientific vocabularies.
Some other learned words are naturale, feminal, uirginal, the
metaphor of sowing, misceo and furtum.

Among the determinants of the type of sexual terminology
which a writer or speaker will choose are:

(a) The circumstances of utterance. In the case of a literary
work, the conventions of the genre were influential (see below).

216

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

The situation facing a speaker might demand a particular type
of sexual vocabulary. One might expect, for example, to hear
basic obscenities in invective. Ad hoc metaphors belong espe¬
cially to jokes. The terminology appropriate to the brothel
(note struthium, eugium, calo, spurium ) differs from that of
the household.

(6) The attitude of the speaker or writer to the sexual act in
question: see p. 170 on 'persuasive designations’.

(c) The nature of the act itself: was it, for example, violent
or mutually pleasurable?

id) The sex of the speaker. Women are generally believed to
be more hostile to obscenity than men, though in special cir¬
cumstances, as in the bedroom or brothel (see above, (a)), or in
smart circles in which outrageousness is deliberately culti¬
vated (see below, (e)), reserve may be abandoned. One is not
in a position to compare the incidence of the Latin basic ob¬
scenities in female as distinct from male speech. Women may
also have special (often metaphorical) sexual terms, which
they employ particularly when addressing children. Porcus,
according to Varro, was used by women when speaking of
girls.

(e) The sex and age of the addressee (or referent). It was a
standard attitude that obscenity was unfit for the ears (and
mouths) of children (Sen. Dial. 2.11.2, Mart. 1.35.If., 3.69.7f.,
5.2, Paul. Fest. p. 283.17ff.), 1 and it is a reasonable assumption
that many speakers would have used nursery words in their
presence. Languages regularly have such terms for the sexual
organs of children. These may vary from family to family.
Certain alleged Greek names for the penis of boys are listed
by Strato, AT. 12.3 (kakov, kokku>, cxavpoc); 2 cf. Hesych.
XpixrCov- to twv ttouSuov aibotov. 3 For porcus, see above. At
Petron. 24.7 Quartilla uses the diminutive uasculum as appro¬
priate to the youthful Giton (cf. iroo-dtov at Aristoph. Thesm.
515, of a child). And pipinna at Mart. 11.72.1 ('Drauci Natta
sui uocat pipinnam, / conlatus cui Gallus est Priapus’) was
presumably a colloquial term for a boy’s mentula. Originally

1 Except on certain ritual occasions. Fescennine verses at weddings were
sung especially by boys, and at the festival of Anna Perenna girls chanted
obscenities: see above, pp. 4f.

2 On XdXcru etc. see L. Robert, Norm indigenes dam VAsie-mineure grico-
romaine (Paris, 1963), pp. 315ff.

s On xpwiov see Robert, p. 19 (especially n. 2).

Conclusion

217

it would have been an adjective meaning 'small’ (cf. the vulgar
adjectives pitinnus, pisinnus), used as a complement of men-
tula (expressed or understood) (cf. pusilla at Mart. 7.55.6). For
the ellipse of mentula with various feminine adjectives, see

p. 62.

It is sometimes suggested or implied that freeborn women
should not hear obscenities or even the mention of sexual acts
(Varro Men. 11, Ovid Trist. 2.303f., Mart. 5.2, 11.15.If., Juv.
11.166, Priap. 8, Aug. Ciu. 2.4-5). A speaker at Ter. Heaut.
1041f. even refrains from using scortum in the presence of a
woman: 'non mihi per fallacias adducere ante oculos . . . pudet
/ dicere hac praesente uerbum turpe’. But in fashionable circles
such an attitude might be held up for ridicule. At 3.68 Martial
states that the preceding epigrams in the book were written
for matronae, but those which are to follow are obscene and
not for the ears of a chaste woman: they are to name directly
that organ (the mentula ) which cannot be looked at by a uirgo
without placing her hand in front of her face. But Martial’s
warning is not serious. In the final couplet (Ilf.) he suggests
that the matron will now shed her previous boredom and read
on with keen interest. At 3.86 he refers back to his earlier
warning, and remarks that the casta matrona has read on
against his advice. He concludes that his epigrams are no more
obscene than mimes, and those are seen by women. Similarly
at ll.16.9f. Lucretia is imagined as blushing at the sight of
Martial’8 epigrams in the presence of Brutus, but reading them
in his absence. And at 10.64 Martial hopes that Polla will
welcome his ioci, despite their language. Martial obviously
regarded his readership as composed of women as well as men.
But he is a special case. He writes with the attitude of one
deliberately flouting conventional attitudes. In less sophisti¬
cated circles it is likely that speakers would have been more
reserved in the presence of women.

Public restrictions do not operate in the bedroom. Words
(spoken by the woman as well as the man) were regarded as
a titillating accompaniment to intercourse (see p. 7). The nupta
uerba which, according to a speaker in Plautus, a married
woman would learn to use (frg. 68 Lindsay), were perhaps the
obscenities of the bedroom.

218 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

2. Generic variation

Since the remains of Latin are predominantly literary, it may
be useful to expand on the conventions of various literary
genres.

(i) Comedy

Compared with Old Comedy, Greek New Comedy was lexically
decent, though the basic obscenities had not been eliminated
entirely. KivT)Tida) at Men. Dysc. 462 probably had the same
tone as pivr|Tux<i>. (3iveto and its compounds are attested a few
times: Men. frg. 397.11 Koerte-Thierfelder uiropiv-nTiwvra,
CGF 138.8 1 PiveCv, 254.1 ItPiinriCT’. XaiKd^w occurs at Men. Dysc.
892 and Strato 1.36 Kock, XaiKacrrpia at Men. Peric. 485.
References to the genitalia are scarcely found in the remains
of the genre. Note, however, the fragment of the Theseus of
Diphilus (50 Kock), quoted by Athenaeus 10.451 b, where
three Samian girls attempt to answer the riddle what is the
strongest thing of all; the third suggests the iTeos. The word is
not likely to have been Athenaeus’. Sexual double entendre is
also rare (but note dvaPoaveiv and TTepu<aOf|o-doa at Men.
Peric. 484, and erracrx ov at Dysc. 892). 2 The alleged translation
of a passage from an ’Avexopevos of Menander found at Anth.
Lat. 712, in which there is some anatomical obscenity, is no
doubt spurious. Similarly the obscenity in the Alda of William
of Blois, a work which its author claims in the preface to have
descended from a Menandrian original, is medieval in spirit. 3
The Greek remains may give a slightly misleading impression
of the sexual element in the genre, but it is clear that New
Comedy was radically different from Old. Mild euphemisms
for sexual acts, rather than obscenities or colourful metaphors,
were in vogue. Such obscenities as were admitted were prob¬
ably confined largely to lower-class characters.

In Terence there is no trace of the lexical obscenities or of
current metaphors. He avoided mention of the sexual organs

1 C. Austin, Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta in Papyris Reperta (Berlin
and New York, 1973). Dr D. M. Bain supplied me with information used in
this paragraph.

2 See Gomme and Sandbach, Menander, a Commentary, pp. 505, 270.

3 See K. Gaiser, Menanders 'Hydria': Eine hellenistische Komodie und ihr
Weg ins lateinische Mittelalter (Heidelberg, 1977), p. 425 n. 115.

Conclusion

219

(the highly euphemistic gremium at Eun. 585 is exceptional).
Most of his references to sexual practices take the form of
metonymy. Here is a selection of the semantic fields from
which euphemisms are drawn: (a) 'violence, corruption’ (e.g.
Heaut. 231 corrumpo, Eun. 616 facio uim; cf. Men. Epitr. 453,
Her. 79), (6) 'touch’ (Adelph. 686), (c) 'be with’ (Hec. 156), (d)
'lie with’ {Hec. 393), (e) 'take (give) pleasure’ (Hec. 69), (/) 'take’
(Adelph. 965), (g) 'press close’ ( comprimo , 4 times). Terence
also occasionally omits an indelicate verb (Heaut. 913, Eun.
479).

Euphemisms of all these types could be quoted from Plautus.
He too avoided the lexical obscenities. But unlike Terence
(and, it would seem, Menander), he was prepared to use sexual
metaphors, particularly in jokes. These are both anatomical
(aratiuncula, cucumis, fundus, gladius, inferior guttur, ma-
chaera, peculium, radix, saltus, testis, uagina, uas\ cf. rutabu-
lum in Naevius) and verbal (aro, dirumpo, diuido, inforo,
scando, tero, 'marry’). It is possible that Plautus (following
Naevius?) deliberately introduced to the genre the sorts of
double entendres favoured in farce and mime. Given the bulk
of his work, it could not be said that his sexual puns are
frequent.

Primary obscenities were undoubtedly admitted in farce and
mime. Mentula, cunnus, futuo and cuius do not happen to occur
in the fragments, but pedico is attested in both genres, as is
coco; cf. Pomponius’ coleatus, and uerpa (?) (Pompon. 129 Fras-
sinetti). Martial twice likens the obscenity of epigram to that
of mime (3.86.4, 8.prooem.). On the obscenity of farce, see
Quint. 6.3.47. Farce and mime also made free use of metaphors
(caedo, concido, cuspis, dolo, molo, ramus, scalpo, scindo, stru-
theum, terminus, trua).

(ii) Catullus and epigram

In view of the extensive remains of Greek epigram, the number
of obscenities that the genre contains is very small: note ttcos
at Antipater, AJP. 11.224.1, Strato, 12.240.2, Pivew at [Mele¬
ager], 11.223.1, 2, Philodemus, 5.126.2, 4, Callicter, 5.29.1,
Strato, 12.245.1, ttpwktos at Nicarchus 11.241.1, 3, Strato,
12.6.1. Cf. (jevoKwOairdTqv at Nicarchus, 11.7.4. Figurative
terminology was preferred. We have seen that Catullus used
primary obscenities not only in iambics, in which he had the

220 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

precedent of Archilochus and Hipponax (note irpcoKros at Hipp.
104.32 West, Ptveco at Archil. 152.2, Hipp. 84.16), but also in
hendecasyllables and elegiac epigram. 1 Of the 39 examples of
mentula, uerpa, cunnus, cuius, futuo and derivatives, pedico,
irrumo and derivatives, fello, caco and peditum (< pedo) in the
shorter poems, 6 are in iambics, 19 in hendecasyllables, and
14 in elegiac epigram. In epigram Catullus appears to have
innovated. He was followed by Martial and the author of the
Priapea. The sexual metaphors which he has were largely
coarse, emotive and current in slang, rather than precious in
the manner of Greek epigram: e.g. that of 'eating’ (28.12f.,
80.6), 'urinating’ (67.30), caedo, glubo, penis, perdepso ; cf. the
ad hoc coinages trabs and sicula. Catullus’ sexual vocabulary
was that of real life. He also employed a wide range of euphe¬
misms, of which at least one ( deliciae ) was in vogue at the
time: cf., e.g. attingo, gremium, 'lie with’ et sim. (69.8, 78.4).

Martial preferred the basic obscenities to their substitutes,
metaphorical or euphemistic. He occasionally coined a meta¬
phor ( aluta, barathrum, Chia, leo, marisca, Symplegas), or
adopted one from slang ('eat’ at, e.g. 7.67.15, 'urinate’ at
11.46.2, dolo, percido). A few of his metaphors were chosen as
appropriate to Priapic poems.

The author of the Priapea made use of the basic language of
the Latin epigrammatic tradition, but he was more Grecising
than Catullus and Martial. Greek in spirit are the Homeric
parody in 68, and the letter puzzles in 7, 54 and 67. The
metaphorical use of ara, hortus, pares (?) and pratum (?) has
a literary flavour. The verbal metaphors in the work were
chosen to stress the threatening character of the phallus of
Priapus {caedo, excauo, fodio, percido, perforo). Some of them
are found in Catullus and / or Martial, others were his
coinages.

Ausonius rejected the lexical obscenity of his Latin prede¬
cessors in epigram. There are isolated examples of fello, fellator
and lingo-, kuctAos at Epigr. 82.5, p. 343 P. can be disregarded.
The Grecising preciosity of Ausonius’ epigrams is illustrated

1 The hendecasyllabic metre had occasionally been used in Greek epigram
before Catullus. One of the five epigrams assigned to Phalaecus by A. S. F.
Gow and D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams (Cambridge,
1965), II, pp. 458f. is in hendecasyllables (2946fF., = AH. 13.6). On the use of
Phalaecian hendecasyllables in combination with various other metres in
Callimachus, Theocritus and Parmenon, see Gow and Page II, p. 177.

Conclusion 221

by the letter puzzle, 87, p. 344 P., and by the metaphorical use
of Clazomenae at 93.4, p. 346.

(iii) Satire

It has been pointed out that Horace uses cunnus and futuo in
the first book of the Sermones, but not thereafter. Other basic
words in this book are coco, merda, pedo and oppedo (see the
Appendix). Whether he was following Lucilius in this respect
cannot be determined. The presence of eugium, muto and mu-
tonium in Lucilius, Horace’s own use of muto in imitation of
Lucilius, and the nature of frg. 1186, are suggestive, but one
cannot be certain that Lucilius employed basic obscenities.
Horace changed his view about the propriety of such words
when he came to the second book, the lexical decency of which
set the pattern for later satire. This change of taste may also
be reflected in the Epodes, where there are no obscenities,
despite the conventions of early Greek iambic poetry. One
finds a few current metaphors in the Sermones (permolo, the
image of horse riding at 2.7.49f.; see further below), but Horace
did not set out to coin metaphors as a procedure of style. Palus
is in a Priapic context; cauda may be a coinage.

Juvenal did not use the basic obscenities, but neither did he
entirely avoid the coarser elements of the Latin. sexual
language. The crude metaphor of 'urinating’ turns up, though
only in a nominal form (11.170; cf. uesica = cunnus); it had
been used by both Horace (Serm. 1.2.44, 2.7.52) and Persius
(6.73). That of 'eating 1 also occurs, though the verbs by which
it is expressed are abnormal (and hence perhaps 'euphemistic’).
In a corpus of poems in which ad hoc and Grecising sexual
metaphors are avoided (penis, fodio (cf. fossa at 2.10, used pars
pro toto of a pathic) and equito at 6.311 were no doubt well
established), cicer and chelidon in the Oxford fragment stand
out as remarkable abnormalities; they constitute an argument
against the authenticity of the piece. For the most part Ju¬
venal favoured bland euphemisms, such as inguen, testiculus,
uenus, genitalia, pars, coitus (10.204), references to the pos¬
ition of the participants in a sexual act (e.g. 3.112, 9.26), and
to concomitant events (e.g. 6.21f.). For the mundane euphe¬
mism 'sleep, lie with’, see, e.g. 4.9, 6.34, 279, 376, and for the
pro-verb facio, 7.240. In Juvenal’s hands the sexual language
of satire became similar to that of polite prose. For drastic

222 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

effect he was, however, ready to import an occasional metaphor
or striking expression ( uesica , rima, podex). Persius, on the
other hand, had shown something of a taste for ad hoc meta¬
phors (gurgulio , ualuae, filix, plantaria; he also used penis).

(iv) Oratory

Orators often affected a modest silence, as at Cic. Pis. 71
'multa . . . recitarem, ni uererer ne hoc ipsum genus orationis
quo nunc utor ab huius loci more abhorreret’ (cf. Verr. a.pr.
14, 1.32, Cael. 69, Phil. 2.47); the commonplace is taken to
extreme lengths by ps.-Quint. Decl. Maior. 3.6 (cf. 3.1). 1 Theor¬
etical works urged reserve upon the orator (Cic. De orat. 2.242,
252, Quint. 11.1.30). Similarly Seneca advised the avoidance
of obscenity both of language and subject matter in decla¬
mation ( Contr. 1.2.21, 23).

The modest silence of the orator was to some extent a dis¬
ingenuous pose. The speeches of Cicero are full of references
to sexual practices, unnatural and otherwise, 2 and of sexual
invective. There is also evidence that sexual jokes were fash¬
ionable in declamation. Nevertheless the orator (and declaim-
er) had to be euphemistic. Lexical obscenities and mildly
risquO words are absent from the speeches of Cicero, and there
is no evidence that they were admitted by other orators in
formal speeches, although obscene invective did have a place
as an undercurrent in politics (see, e.g. Macrob. Sat. 2.4.21 on
the 'Fescennines’ directed by Augustus at Pollio).

Some idea of the grossness (of subject rather than word)
which must occasionally have been heard in the senate is
provided by the anecdote told by Suet. Iul. 22.2 (where a sen¬
ator alludes to irrumatio). Allusions to oral sexual practices
are relatively common in the speeches of Cicero. 3 But the
speeches to the people were more reserved than those to the
senate. Nothing resembling the reference to fellatio at Red.
Sen. 11 ('qui ne a sanctissima quidem parte corporis potuisset

1 See R. Volkmann, Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Romer 2 (Leipzig, 1885),
p. 504 for the commonplace in Greek; cf. R. G. M. Nisbet, M. Tulli Ciceronis
in L. Calpurnium Pisonem oratio (Oxford, 1961), on §71.

2 The sexual organs were subject to a more restrictive taboo. But see nerui
at Sest. 16, intemperantia at Red. Sen. 11 (?), and p. 56 on expressions of the
type 'quae honeste nominari non possunt’.

3 See Dom. 83 and the passages collected above, p. 213, n. 1.

Conclusion

223

hominum impuram intemperantiam propulsare’) is to be found
in the corresponding speech to the people ( Quir .). Implicit in
the difference is an attitude that while a man can speak freely
among members of his own social class, to be too outspoken
before members of other classes might be embarrassing. Sim¬
ilarly M. Porcius Cato (of Utica) walked out of the theatre at
the Floralia so that the show could go on (Val. Max. 2.10.8,
Mart, l.prooem.). The embarrassment of the people in his pres¬
ence suggests that ordinary people expected greater reserve in
sexual matters to be shown by leaders of old-fashioned grauitas
than they would show themselves.

The popularity of sexual innuendo in declamation is well
illustrated by Seneca’s anecdote ( Contr. 4.praef.l0) about the
vogue use of officium (p. 163); cf. Contr. 1.2.22-3, 4.praef.ll.
The grossness of these last two passages, in which loci, libido
and obscena are sexually suggestive, cannot be matched in
Ciceronian oratory.

In oratory sexual acts were alluded to by means of vague
innuendo (see above, p. 213, n. 1 for examples), circumlocutions
(e.g. Scip. Afr. Orat. frg. 17 'idem fecerit, quod cinaedi facere
solent’, Cic. ap. Suet. Iul. 49.3 'remoue . . . istaec, oro te,
quando notum est, et quid ille tibi et quid illi tute dederis’)
and by a variety of euphemisms. Stuprum is common. The
frequency of expressions indicating corruption, tainting, the
doing of violence etc. reflects the moralising stance of the
orator (e.g. uim adfero at Cic. Verr. 1.67, Sen. Contr. 1.2.2,
uiolo at Verr. 4.116, Sen. Contr. 1.2.7, corrumpo, polluo and
contamino in Seneca). For verbs meaning 'lie with’ etc. see Cic.
Cael. 36, Verr. 5.63, Sen. Contr. 7.6.15, and for 'touch’ et sim.,
Cael. 20, Sen. Contr. 1.2.2. See further uolutor (p. 193), seruio
(p. 163), patior (p. 190), amo (p. 188). Graphic metaphors with
a strong anatomical implication are avoided, but vague meta¬
phors were admissible (e.g. those of a military kind (p. 159),
ludo (Sen. Contr. 1.2.22)). The orator could not afford to use
recherche words or ad hoc coinages. Since he was dealing
with real events and often speaking to an ordinary audience,
he had to use current and acceptable euphemisms. Fashionable
ways of referring to sexual activity surface a few times in the
pro Caelio (ludus (p. 162), deliciae (p. 196)).

224 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(v) Elegy

Alexandrian narrative elegy, whatever its relationship to La¬
tin elegy, seems to have been euphemistic, but the fragments
are not sufficient to allow detailed comparisons. At Aet.
l.frg.21.4 Callimachus uses a euphemism (-ircuSi xpounra|x[evTi)
of a type which we have seen in Latin (tango, etc.; cf. Theocr.
10.18). 'Touching a maiden’s girdle’ is another euphemism, for
the amatory activities of the first night of a marriage (Call.
Aet. 3.frg.75.45).

Ovid’s Amores and Ars Amatoria are more explicit than
other elegy, but both works are lexically inoffensive. The pro¬
tracted account of impotence at Am. 3.7 is quite unlike any¬
thing in Tibullus or Propertius, but it too is euphemistic. The
terms by which the organ is referred to are colourless (6 in-
guinis, 13 membra, 28 corpora, 35 neruos, 69 pars pessima
nostri, 73 hanc (partem)). Ovid was prepared to admit anatom¬
ical double entendres occasionally, as at Am. 1.8.47L, 1.9.26
(arma), but such language is abnormal in the genre. Mem-
brum, with or without a complement, is the usual word applied
to the male organ (Tib. 1.4.70, Prop. 2.16.14, Ovid Am. 2.3.3,
2.15.25). In the Ars Amatoria pars in various combinations is
employed of both the male and female genitalia (2.584, 618,
707, 3.804). Some substitutes for cunnus are inguen (Tib.
2.4.58), pubes (Ovid Ars 2.613), uiscera (Ovid Am. 2.14.27,
= cunnus and 'womb’), corpus (Ovid Am. 2.14.34; cf. Am.
3.7.28, of the penis), and locus (Ovid Ars 3.799). Allusions to
sexual parts of the body are far more numerous in Ovid than
in Tibullus or Propertius.

Many of the verbal euphemisms in Latin elegy can be paral¬
leled in Terence and oratory, and are likely to derive from the
polite educated language: e.g. expressions meaning 'sleep, lie
with’ (Tib. 1.9.75, Prop. 1.8b.33, 2.15.16), 'spend the night’,
etc. (Tib. 2.6.49, Ovid Am. 1.8.67, 1.10.30 etc.), 'be with’ (Ovid
Am. 2.8.27), 'take pleasure’ etc. (Tib. 2.1.12, Ovid Am. 1.10.35,
2.9b.46), comprimo (Prop. 2.26b.48), 'hold, join, embrace, cling’
(Tib. 2.6.52, Prop. 1.13.19, 2.15.25). It has been pointed out
that uolutor (Prop. 2.29b.36) is found in oratory and
declamation.

Those metaphors which focus attention on the role of the
mentula (e.g. caedo and compounds, scindo) are avoided. The
metaphors which do occur are anatomically inexplicit and

Conclusion

225

often paralleled in Greek: e.g. those of wrestling (Prop. 2.1.13,
2.15.5), rowing (Ovid Ars 2.731), riding (Ovid Ars 2.732,
3.777f.), fighting (Tib. 1.10.53, Prop. 2.15.4 and often). Cf. ludo
(Prop. 2.15.21; note too lusus at Ovid Am. 2.3.13), officium
(Prop. 2.22a.24), furtum (Prop. 4.8.34, etc.).

3. Chronological variation

The degree of sexual explicitness which is permitted in a so¬
ciety, at least in literature and public performances, can
change drastically from period to period, as could be demon¬
strated from British society of the last twenty years. In the
spoken language public taboos are not so influential, and in a
period of public repression one would not expect the terminol¬
ogy of popular abuse to be much modified. In the appropriate
contexts Latin speakers were equally tolerant of the basic
obscenities in the Republic and early Empire. It is true that
Horace turned away from obscenities in the second book of the
Sermones, and that Ovid states that his Ars Amatoria is not
worthy of the emperor’s attention ( Trist . 2.241f. 'ilia quidem
fateor frontis non esse seuerae / scripta, nec a tanto principe
digna legi’). Furthermore in a few places Martial suggests that
the ears of an emperor impose greater restraint on him
(8.prooem., 8.1), an attitude which was at least partly due to
the fact that an emperor might be expected to hold the censura
(1.4.7). He even went so far as to present Nerva with an ex¬
purgated (?) selection of epigrams from books 10 and 11 (12.4
(5)). But Horace’s change of taste was purely personal, and
Martial parades various attitudes only to mock them else¬
where. Augustus himself, as we have seen, composed obscene
epigrams. Martial expresses confidence that Domitian will en¬
joy his verses, just as he enjoyed mime and the ioci at triumphs
(1.4; cf. 7.8.9f.). And in a dedicatory poem to his breue opus for
Nerva he mentions the possibility that the emperor will also
read the other epigrams (12.4 (5).4). That there were no public
restrictions on verbal obscenity under the Empire is evidenced
by the case of epigram. Mime too continued to be composed in
a direct style (Mart. 1.4; cf. 3.86.4, 8.prooem.). And on various
public or ritual occasions obscenities seem still to have been
heard (at the Floralia, triumphs, the festival of Anna Perenna,
performances of the Cadiz dancers (Juv. 11.174), and no doubt

226 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

at weddings). It was only in satire that a change of fashion
took place. Invective of the emperor and his associates was of
course no longer a safe undertaking, but it did not have to be
obscene to give offence.

Primary obscenities have a very long life, and for this reason
they are often of obscure etymology. Mentula had no doubt
been in use long before the historical period, and it lived on
into some of the Romance languages (It. minchia, Log.
minkra). On the other hand the complementary term uerpa
must eventually have fallen out of use in all areas. It is at¬
tested during a relatively brief period, and it does not itself
survive in Romance. It has been suggested earlier that if a
primary obscenity is weakened into an empty term of abuse
or imprecation, it may need to be replaced as the vox propria
for the part or act in question. Verpa has an attested abusive
use in which its proper force was fading (p. 13). Pedico, irrumo
and fello may have disappeared for the same reason. Cunnus,
cuius and futuo lived on.

Words other than basic obscenities suffer a continuous pro¬
cess of decline and replacement. Euphemisms tend to lose their
euphemistic character; they may then be dropped from the
language, or live on as obscenities. We have the testimony of
Quintilian that patro and ducto, both elliptical euphemisms in
origin, developed an obscene tone. How long they survived in
colloquial varieties of the language as offensive terms it is
impossible to tell. There is a hint that a new euphemism
perficio came into rivalry with patro during the Empire, but
the evidence is inadequate. Certainly patro must have fallen
out of vulgar use by the time that Theodoras Priscianus used
its derivative patratio as a medical (and hence inoffensive)
term. It is not unusual for a word which had once been coarse
to be resuscitated after a gap as a recherche term. This was
the lot of penis, podex and perhaps masturbor. The decline of
old euphemisms and the appearance of new in colloquial
speech cannot be adequately documented for a dead language
because its remains are largely literary. A few changes can be
noted in Latin. Conquinisco and ocquinisco, which may have
degenerated from general into sexual terms, are confined to
the Republic. Inclinofr) seems to have replaced them by the
first century a.d. Limare caput was also Republican. Varro’s
remarks at Ling. 6.80 imply that esse cum was little, if at all,
used by his day; nevertheless it continues to appear in litera-

Conclusion

227

ture. Deliciae was fashionable in the late Republic; so too
libido in a purely physical sense was not in use in the early
Republic. It is difficult to find examples of tango in late Latin,
but contingo is common.

The fate of metaphors is variable. Some, if used over a long
period, lose their metaphorical character (e.g. penis (?), futuo
(?), irrumo, fello, molo, and perhaps iocor and luctor). Others,
despite a long currency, manage to retain their imagery (e.g.
testis, ramus, fodio, anus). Different types of metaphors emerge
at different times, in keeping with the emergence of new ob¬
jects, practices and the like which might be interpreted as
sexually symbolical. Conversely, as practices change, old
metaphors may lose their motivation and fall out of use (e.g.
datatim). Metaphors can be coined so freely that many occur
only once. But the symbolism which generates isolated meta¬
phors may be perceived by speakers over a long period (e.g.
the symbolism of weapons, or of'eating, feeding’).

In the technical and medical languages it is possible to see
some changes. The Latin sexual vocabulary contrasts with
that of the modern languages in its lack of a fixed set of polite
technical terms for the organs of both sexes. Medical writers
display considerable variations in terminology, partly because
medical science in the modern sense, with its massive litera¬
ture and need for a universally comprehensible vocabulary,
did not exist. Amateurs such as Celsus were motivated as
much by precious stylistic considerations as by a desire for
lexical precision. And the failure of Greek writers to establish
a uniform terminology had an affect on Latin writers, who
followed Greek sources closely and often merely translated
Greek terms directly into Latin. The terminology of Celsus,
who opposed caulis to naturalia, was idiosyncratic, and not
influential later. In the first century a.d. (Columella, Pliny)
genitale, -ia was the standard scientific term for the sexual
organs of both sexes, but it was rivalled in the later part of
the Natural History by uerenda, an equivalent of otiSoiov. The
author of the Mulomedicina Chironis made a lexical distinc¬
tion between the organs of the two sexes ( ueretrum 'penis’
contrasts with uirginalis 'vagina’), but like that in Celsus it
was of no further significance. Veretrum became the most com¬
mon word for the male organ in late technical prose, but there
was no stable term for the female parts. In some works (e.g.
Anon. Med. ed. Piechotta, the translation of Hippocr. Aer.)

228 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ueretrum (= ai’8oiov) serves as a blanket euphemism for the
parts of both sexes. Sinus muliebris is a common euphemism
for the vagina in some late works, but its use was determined
by the presence of koXitos yuvaiKeios in its users’ sources (no¬
tably Soranus, whose gynaecological work was translated into
Latin by Caelius Aurelianus and Mustio). Sinus muliebris and
koXitos yuvaiKctos did not even oust their rivals in those
writers who adopted them. In Caelius Aurelianus ueretrum,
with or without specification, is used of both sexual organs.
The inconsistency of terminology was of course caused by vari¬
ations in Soranus.

4. The influence of Greek

It is not unusual for loan-words to be found in the sexual
vocabulary of a language, particularly as designations for
types of sexual behaviour and for the paraphernalia associated
with sexual activities. Forms of perversion, as we have sug¬
gested (p. 202), tend to be ascribed particularly to foreign
peoples, and those perversions may be described by a word
from the foreign language in question. Various words to do
with homosexuality in Latin are of Greek origin (pedico , path-
icus, cinaedus, catamitus; 1 cf. malacus at Plaut. Mil. 668).

But the sexual organs and ordinary sexual behaviour did
not attract loan-words. Although Celsus comments at 6.18.1
on the superiority of the Greek sexual vocabulary to that
current in Latin, he did not introduce loan-words but instead
made use to some extent of caiques (e.g. caulis, glans and
perhaps pubes and orae). Caiques (of a sexual kind) are not
uncommon in learned varieties of the language. Others which
have been mentioned are cicer, pecten, gemini, pares (?), uer¬
etrum (= ai’Soiov), uerenda, necessaria (?), particula, ara, pin-
nacula, sinus ( muliebris ), hortus, pratum (?), sedes. Some of
the Greek loan-words which we have seen ( strutheum , eugium,
calo) may have been introduced by Greek prostitutes (cf. the
Etruscan (?) spurium). Phallus and chelidon were isolated
transfers. 2 Laecasin must have been picked up from a vulgar

1 Catamitus entered Latin from Greek (ravu(rq8T)<;) via Etruscan.

2 There are also isolated (and insignificant) examples of balanus (p. 72), fisis
(p. 61) and nymphe (p. 98) in medical writers.

Conclusion

229

Greek curse; ordinary Latin speakers may not have ascribed
to it a sexual sense. Some other Greek words had entered the
language with non-sexual senses, before being adopted as sex¬
ual metaphors ( machaera, pyramis, thyrsus, clinopale,
palaestra).

There is a good deal of overlap between sexual metaphors
and also euphemisms of various types in Greek and those in
Latin. Metaphors from weaponry, for example, abound in both
languages. Words meaning ’tail’ were transferred to the penis
in Greek as well as Latin. The metaphor of riding was shared
by the two languages. The parallelism could be exemplified at
considerable length without difficulty. But the existence of
parallels does not in itself establish that Latin writers always
or often coined metaphors and euphemisms with Greek idiom
in mind. Sexual symbols tend to be common to many cultures,
and there is inevitably an overlap between the metaphors of
one language and those of another. Some sexual metaphors in
Latin would certainly have been imitations of Greek usage
(e.g. hortus = cuius at Priap. 5.4 must have been coined with
Gk. Kfj-iros = kvktOos in mind), but sure examples are difficult
to find.

Given the paucity of anatomical loan-words in the Latin
sexual language, the marked presence of such words in the
short spurcum additamentum found in one manuscript of Apu-
leius, Met. 10.21 must be taken both as am indication of the
obscurantist tastes of a medieval delver in glossaries, and as
smother proof that the piece is spurious. 1 The curious phrase
orciurn pigam ('et ercle orcium pigam perteretem Hyaci fra-
grantis et Chie rosacee lotionibus expiauit’) consists of opyis
'testicle’ along with mryf| in a Medieval glossators’ sense, 'scro¬
tum’ (see Pap. El. s.u., 'pyga, nates uel bursa mentula’) based
on a misunderstanding of Hor. Serm. 1.2.133 'ne nummi per-
eant aut puga aut denique fama’. 2 Orcis occurs a second time
in the additamentum : 'et cum ad inguinis cephalum formosa
mulier concitim ueniebat ab orcibus’. 3 Otherwise in Latin or¬
chis is the name of a plant or vegetable. Cephalum here, like
caput, is used of the glans of the penis. Another sure sign in

1 On the spurious character of the passage, see the work of Fraenkel cited
above, p. 20, n. 1, and Mariotti. A text is printed by Mariotti, pp. 231f. =
p. 50.

a See Mariotti, pp. 232ff. = pp. 51f.

a See Mariotti, p. 239 = p. 58 on the text here.

230 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

the passage of a man who had a taste for glossaries is the use
of genius = genitale, commented on above, p. 58, n. 3. Mariotti
(p. 248 = p. 67) compares the obscenity found in the twelfth
century Alda by William of Blois (449ff.) as a general pointer
to the milieu from which the piece might have come. There is,
as we have seen, a lot of obscenity in twelfth century Latin
comedy from France (notably in the Lidia , 510ff, and the
Babio ), and descriptions of intercourse are not uncommon. But
the loan-words and obscure glossators’ terms in the addita-
mentum make it highly unusual, though not for that reason
necessarily a product of another era. Inguen (= mentula ),
which occurs twice in the piece, had something of a vogue in
twelfth century comedy (see p. 47, n. 1). More interesting is
the use of Priapus = mentula ('ganniens ego et dentes ad
Iouem eleuans Priapo<n> frequenti frictura porrixabam’).
Mariotti (p. 240 = p. 59) erroneously found this metaphor in
Juvenal (2.95; cf. the schol. ad loc .) and Martial (14.70.1). In
both writers it is the name of an object of phallic shape. But
Priapus was used as an anatomical term in the twelfth cen¬
tury: see Vitalis of Blois, Geta 361 'numquam placata Priapo
/ semper inest rabies’ (cf. 348, where Priapus is a manuscript
variant). 1

1 The first example of Priapus in this sense is in a quotation at Diomedes,
GL 1.512.28 'Priapeum, quo Vergilius in prolusionibus suis usus fuit, tale est,
"incidi patulum in specum procumbente Priapo” ’. See Gloss., Cod. Leid. 191 3
(see CGL VI, s.v. mu to) 'muto Priapus’. Thereafter it is largely a medieval
usage. For further medieval examples, see Herter, De Priapo p. 51 (contrast
the use of •n-punruTKos of various medical instruments of phallic shape: Herter,
op. cit. pp. 51f.).

APPENDIX

The Vocabulary Relating to
Bodily Functions

1. Defecation

A language might be expected to have a variety of words
relating to defecation. There will generally be one or more
crude basic terms of much the same status as sexual obsceni¬
ties. In medical and polite registers euphemisms are necessary.
Alongside blanket terms designating the excrement of humans
and animals indifferently, a language may have a set of
specialised words for the excreta of particular beasts. And the
various uses to which dung can be put may motivate special
terms. The Latin terminology shows variations determined by
all of these factors. I begin with the crudest words.

(i) Caco and its derivatives

Caco, with a characteristic reduplicated form, must have be¬
gun as a nursery word, 1 but it became the basic verb for defe¬
cation, with a distribution similar, if not exactly identical, to
that of mentula, cunnus, cuius and futuo. It is found in hen-
decasyllabic poems of Catullus (23.20, 36.1, 20; the second two
examples are metaphorical) and epigram (7 times in Martial,
and at Priap. 69.4; cf. the desiderative cacaturio at Mart.
11.77.3), in farce and mime (Pompon. 97,129,130,151, Novius
6, Laber. 66), and graffiti (8 examples are listed in the index
to CIL IV, along with one of cacatris (?), 5 of cacator and one
of cacaturio ; I have noted 5 examples of caco in the Supple-

Pokomy I, p. 521, Emout and Meillet, s.v.

232 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ments). Caco survives in all of the Romance languages. The
example at Catull. 23.20 ('nec toto decies cacas in anno, / atque
id durius est faba et lapillis’) should be compared with the
inscription from Ostia published by Calza, Die Antike 15
(1939), p. 101: 'durum cacantes monuit ut nitant Thales’. The
combination must have belonged to vulgar speech. 1 The ellipt¬
ical euphemism at Juv. 1.131 'cuius ad effigiem non tantum
meiere fas est’ (sc. 'sed etiam cacare’) perhaps suggests that
for Juvenal caco was more offensive than meio (see below).
The only verse satirist who uses the word is Horace in the first
book of the Sermones (1.8.38 'in me ueniat mictum atque ca-
catum’); this is a reminiscence of an inscriptional formula (cf.
CIL VI.13740 and Pers. 1.112, quoted above, p. 68; for uenire
cacatum see CIL IV.5242). Juvenal’s ellipse might be con¬
trasted with Plautus’ suggestive use of creat in a context in
which cacat might have been expected (p. 138).

A freedman in Petronius also uses caco in a variation of the
same inscriptional formula: 71.8 'ne in monumentum meum
populus cacatum currat’. The presence of caco in Petronius
marks the word as different in tone from mentula, cunnus and
futuo. It is likely enough that caco continued to be used in the
hearing of children; it might not have had the same offensive¬
ness as the sexual obscenities. Its mild tone (relatively speak¬
ing) is confirmed by the use of some of its derivatives. The
vulgar plant named citocacia mentioned by Isidore, Etym.
17.9.65 'citocacia uocata quod uentrem cito depurgat; quam
uulgus corrupte citocociam uocant’, would have been humor¬
ously direct, but hardly a taboo word. And Seneca twice admits
the compound concaco in the Apocolocyntosis (4.3), once in
direct speech and once in the narrative. 2 In the same passage
one should note the circumlocution by which he avoided cuius:
'cum maiorem sonitum emisisset ilia parte, qua facilius
loquebatur’.

Caco is also used in the veterinary work of Pelagonius

1 For the adjective durus in this connection, see Cels. 2.7.5, Mul. Chir. 395,
Veg. Mul. 2.119.1.

2 Concaco is used elsewhere by Phaedrus (4.19.11), in a poem containing
caco (25) and merda (25), and in the Pactus Legis Salicae (30.2 'si quis alterum
concagatum clamauerit’); cf. REW 2110. On the reading catillum concagatum
at Petron. 66.7 I share the doubts expressed by Smith, Petronii Arbitri Cena
Trimalchionis, ad ioc.; but see Heraeus, Die Sprache des Petronius und die
Glossen, p. 17, = Kleine Schriften, p. 83.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 233

(302.1, 308.1). Further evidence will be cited below to show
that veterinary writers were stylistically less fastidious than
medical.

(ii) Merda

If merda is of the root *smerd-, *smord - 'stinken’, 1 its semantic
development would be the same as that of oletum facio, lit.
'make a smell’ >'caco’ (see p. 68 with n. 2). Hence it would
have deteriorated from a euphemism (metonymy) into the ba¬
sest designation of excrement. In extant Latin merda is no¬
where used exclusively of human excreta. At Hor. Serm. 1.8.37
(plural) the merda belongs to crows, at Phaedr. 4.19.25 (plural)
it is that of dogs, 2 and at Anon. Med. ed. Piechotta 194 (plural),
of the horse; cf. ibid. CLI (singular), of the capon. The reflexes
of merda in Romance 3 4 * can still be used of the dung of animals;
in French the plural use ( les merdes) so familiar in Latin is
applied particularly to the excrement of birds and small
animals.

Veterinary writers were prepared to use merda occasionally,
in keeping with their tolerance of basic excretory terminology:
Pelagon. 135 merdam leporinam, Mul. Chir. 268 merdam bub-
alam, 989 merda caprina, Veg. Mul. 2.8.4 merdam bubulam ;
contrast Veg. Mul. 2.28.6 fimum bubalum. The combination
merda bubula survives as Log. merdaula * it would certainly
have been a farmers’ expression, and as such emptied (by
constant use) of offensive content.

Twice merda is attested in the vulgar expression To eat
merda' ( CIL IV.1700 'ut merdas edatis’, Mart. 1.83.2 'non mi-
ror, merdas si libet esse cani’). At Mart. 3.17.6 ('sed nemo
potuit tangere: merda fuit’) it is metaphorical (of a cake). This
example anticipates a familiar use of its reflexes (e.g. Fr. c’6t-
ait de la merde\ cf. Eng. it was shit ; contrast Catullus’ cacata
carta at 36.1, 20). The weakening of its proper force implicit
in this syntagm might in time give rise to a non-excretory
sense 'rubbish, filth, dust’ or the like. 6 In a technical register
such a development can be seen in the use of merda = 'dross’

1 So Pokomy I, p. 970.

2 In this passage merda is used in association with caco.

3 REW 5520.

4 REW 1356, 5520.

6 See REW 5520, FEW VI.2, p. 21.

234 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

of metal: Diosc. Lat. V, p. 209.3 'de merda ferri. scora ferri
tantum potest, quantum et erugine eius, sed paulo minus’ (cf.
crKwpioi <ctk(I>p). Merda ferri survives as OPr. merdafer. 1

Merda was obviously capable of conveying a strong note of
disgust, but as a farming and veterinary term it could be used
neutrally. Already in the Latin period it was showing signs of
weakening in anticipation of some of its Romance uses. In
poetry merda is confined to the first book of Horace’s Sermones,
Martial and Phaedrus (cf. smerdalea at Priap. 68.8).

(iii) Stercus, fimus

The polite equivalents of merda were stercus and (in Imperial
Latin) fimus. Their distribution is as follows: 2

Plautus

fimus

stercus

2

Cato

3

25

Lucilius

1

2

Varro

1

12

Cicero

—

2

Vitruvius

—

4

Virgil

4

—

Livy

1

-

Celsus

—

16

Seneca phil.

-

3

Columella

25

80

Petronius

—

1

Tacitus

1

—

Suetonius

—

1

Palladius

30

67

Pelagonius

2

30

Mul. Chir.

3

74

Vegetius, Mul.

7

60

Vulgate

7

28

Marc. Emp.

65

56

Theod. Prise., Eup.

7

11

Diosc. Lat. II

16

6

Cassius Felix

3

6

1 FEW VI.2, p. 26.

1 Statistics for veterinary writers were supplied by Dr K.-D. Fischer.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 235

In the Republic and early Empire stercus was the standard
term in technical and formal prose, and it continued to be used
in late antiquity and survives in some Romance languages,
both in the East (Ital., Rum., Sic.) and to a limited extent in
the West (Astur. istiercu, Pg. esterco)} Fimus caught on in the
West (OFr. fiens, Prov. femps, Cat. ferns). 2 It is remarkable for
the wide range of derivatives which it developed in late an¬
tiquity and handed on mainly to Gallo-romance and Ibero-
romance {fimare, fimarium, fimita / femita, fimorare, fimorar-
ium). 3 These can be compared with the comparable range of
derivatives which stercus already had in early Latin (e.g. ster-
coratio, stercorare, stercilinum, stercorarius in Cato). It will be
observed that one of the few writers in whom fimus outnum¬
bers stercus is Marcellus Empiricus. Since he came from Bor¬
deaux, his practice may partly reflect regional influence.
Stercus is glossed by fimus in the Reichenau Glosses (916
'stercora: femus’, 3005 'de stercore: ex femo’), 4 which are a
source for early N.French vocabulary.

Stercus was acceptable in the early official / religious
language, as can be seen from CIL I 2 .401 'in hoce loucarid
stircus ne [qu]is fundatid neue. . and from the old formula
quoted by Varro Ling. 6.32 'dies qui uocatur "quando stercum
delatum fas”, ab eo appellatus, quod eo die ex Aede Vestae
stercus euerritur’. Fimus, on the other hand, to judge by its
use in Virgil, Livy and Tacitus, might have had a slightly
more literary flavour in the earlier period. But it seems more
likely that there was an early semantic distinction between
the two words.

Stercus was a very general word, which could indicate the
excrement of any animal or of humans. Lucilius was thinking
at least in part of human excreta in the comparison at 399
'praetor noster adhuc, quam spurcos ore quod omnis / extra
castra ut stercus foras eiecit ad unum’; for the sense 'human
excrement’, cf., e.g. Cels. 2.12.2B twice. The generality of the
word can be seen at Cato Agr. 36 'stercus columbinum spargere
oportet in pratum uel in hortum uel in segetem. caprinum,

' REW 8245, FEW m, p. 547.

2 REW 3311, FEW III, p. 547.

3 See REW 3307-3310a, and also FEW III, pp. 544ff. These derivatives are
not entirely unattested in late Latin: see J. F. Niermeyer, Mediae Latinitatis
Lexicon Minus (Leiden, 1954-76), s.w. fimare, fimarium.

* See H.-W. Klein, Die Reichenauer Glossen I (Munich, 1968).

236 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

ouillum, bubulum, item ceterum stercus omne sedulo conser-
uato’; cf. 161.4 'stercus ouillum . . . fac ingeras; . . . aliut ster¬
cus herbas creat’. The example at 37.2 means nothing more
specific than 'compost’: 'stercus unde facias: stramenta, lu-
pinum, paleas, fabalia. . .’. Cato uses stercus with the following
adjectives: caprinum, columbinum, ouillum, suillum, ceterum,
aliut (on bubulum see below.) 1

Fimus may originally have been a specialised term. Two of
the three examples in Cato are qualified by bubulus (40.2,
46.2), and the third (28.2 'oblinitoque fimo summas (arbores)’)
is in an identical phrase to that at 46.2 ('fimoque bubulo sum-
mam taleam oblinito’); it is likely to have been used elliptically
in the same sense as the full expression ('ox, cow, dung’). Cato
does not use bubulum with stercus, if one excludes the special
case at 36, where bubulum is merely one of a series of adjec¬
tives and is not juxtaposed with stercus. A specialised sense
for fimus is also supported by Lucil. 1018 ('hie in stercore humi
fabulisque, fimo atque sucerdis’), where the word comes be¬
tween two specialised terms (see below). Similarly the only
occurrences of fimus both in Varro (Rust. 3.16.16 'uitiles fimo
bubulo oblinunt intus et extra’) and Livy (38.18.4) are accom¬
panied by bubulus. Varro does not use stercus specifically of
ox / cow dung (the example at Rust. 1.2.21 is somewhat vaguer
in meaning).

By the time of Columella any original distinction between
stercus and fimus was probably fading. Nevertheless bubulus
is the only specifying adjective of its type which Columella
uses with fimus (5.6.8, 9.14.1, Arb. 3.4; cf. 9.14.2, where fimus
= fimus bubulus, and 10.82, where armentique fimo in verse
is presumably equivalent to fimus bubulus). He does not use
bubulum as an epithet of stercus. And at 4.8.3 ('aliquid fimi,
uel si est commodius, columbini stercoris’), where fimus, un¬
specified, is contrasted with pigeon dung, some such meaning
as 'cow, cattle manure’ has to be given to fimus to make sense
of the contrast. Cf. Vulg. Ezech. 4.15 'et dixit ad me "ecce dedi
fimum bourn pro stercoribus humanis” ’. As used by Pliny the
Elder fimus had lost its specialised meaning (see, e.g. Nat.
29.106, 30.67).

I conclude that stercus had long been a generic term for the

1 For examples, see A. Mazzarino, M. Porci Catonis De Agri Cultura (Leipzig,
1962), index, p. 122.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 237

excrement of humans, birds and quadrupeds, but that fimus
originally denoted ox / cow dung or manure. Its semantic re¬
striction is clear in Republican Latin, but the two words
overlapped by the Empire.

At a later date a distinction is drawn between stercus and
fimus at Mul. Chir. 698: 'quodcumque iumentum ab stercore
equalis [= equilis], quod femum 1 uocatur, collectionem in un-
gulam fecerit’. Here too it is stercus that is general, fimus
specific (= 'stable manure’). This use of fimus survived in the
dialect of the Morvan, France (fieri = 'fumier datable’). 2 It is
only a small step from the original sense argued above for
fimus, and that seen here. In a later passage of the Mulome-
dicina, and also perhaps in 698, femus appears to be used in
a derived sense, = 'affliction caused by stable manure’: 875
'malagma ad femus’; cf. 698 'collectionem in ungulam . . . fam-
icem quod appellamus femi’ (femi Oder, fenici cod.).

A few other uses of fimus and stercus are worth mentioning.
In Virgil’s Georgies fimus is used of manure (1.80, 2.347), but
at Aen. 5.333 and 358 its sense is probably more general,
= 'filth’. The tendency of merda to move in this direction has
been noted earlier; conversely, words for 'filth’ and the like are
sometimes used of excrement (see below). There is a frequent
overlap between words of these two general areas.

At De Orat. 3.164 Cicero expresses disapproval of the meta¬
phorical expression stercus curiae, applied to a man: 'nolo
"stercus curiae” dici Glauciam: ... est . . . deformis cogitatio
similitudinis’. With this can be compared the metaphorical use
of merda, or more particularly of its Romance reflexes.

Stercus, like merda later, is used in the same sense as
crKwpia at Scrib. Larg. 188.

1 In this spelling the e must represent the open e which was handed on to
the Romance reflexes of the word (see FEW III, p. 547). The e was no doubt
due to a contamination between fimus and stercus. Words for 'excrement’ were
constantly contaminated phonetically both with one another and with words
of similar meaning. Certain reflexes of merda show contamination with *fi-
mora (see FEW VI.2, p. 26). In some areas laetamen was contaminated with
lutum (REW 4845), and lotium too was sometimes modified under the influ¬
ence of lutum (REW 5129; see below, p. 240).

1 See FEW in, p. 544. Various derivatives of fimus have related senses: see
FEW in, pp. 545f.

238 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

(iv) Some specialised terms

It was mentioned earlier that a language may have a set of
specialised words for the excrement of different types of
animals. In Greek note ovCq (a derivative of ovos, = 'ass’s
dung’: Aristoph. Pax 4), (IoXitov (-os) ('cow dung’: Aristoph.
Ach. 1026), ovtodot ('dung of the ass’: Hesych. ovtaia. tov iinrai)
to a<{>68€V|i,a) and crctrupd&es ('balls of dung’, as of the goat or
sheep: Aristoph. Pax 790). French makes some similar dis¬
tinctions: cf. bouse (of the cow, ox), crottin (of the horse, mule),
crotte (of the dog, cat), fiente (of birds). There are traces of such
a set in Latin. On fimus, see the preceding section. Cf. mus-
cerda, of the mus (see Fest. p. 132 'muscerdas prima syllaba
producta dicebant antiqui stercus murum’; cf. Varro ap. Plin.
Nat. 29.106, Marc. Emp. 25.30), sucerda (Paul. Fest. p. 391
'sucerda stercus suillum’; cf. Lucil. 1018 quoted above), and
perhaps opicerda (Fest. p. 390.29 opicer[da (?); if the restora¬
tion is correct, why does the word have a p? Was it influenced
by opiliol). These words may be of root *sker- (d-), with a false
division of mu-scerda ( mus-cerda ) producing su-cerda. 1 But the
etymology is doubtful. In the passage of Lucilius referred to
above, fabulus (diminutive of faba) is juxtaposed with fimus
and sucerda. It presumably indicated a small, bean-like pellet
of dung, perhaps that of the goat. Commentators (see Marx ad
loc.) compare faba at Plin. Nat. 19.185 'fabis caprini fimi’. The
three nouns in this passage, following the generic stercus, look
like contemporary terms of the farmyard. But both fabulus
and the words based on -cerda seem to have fallen out of use
by the Empire. None survives in Romance. At Nat. 29.106
Pliny talks of muscerda as an abnormality: 'praeterea, ut
Varro noster tradit, murinum fimum, quod ille muscerdas
appellat’.

Late Latin also had a specialised term for 'manure’,
laetamen. 2 As applied to dung laetamen was originally euphem¬
istic, since in etymology it means simply 'thing for fattening,
fertiliser’ (< laetus, 'rich, fertile’). This is the force of its first
occurrence, at Plin. Nat. 18.141 'nascitur qualicumque solo
cum centesimo grano, ipsumque pro laetamine est’. Its speci¬
alisation was complete by the time of Palladius, who has it 29

1 See Pokomy I, pp. 947f.

% In earlier Latin stercus and aleo fimus are frequently tranalateable by
'manure’.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 239

times. On its tone, see Serv. on Virg. Georg. 1.1 'fimus, qui per
agros iacitur, uulgo laetamen uocatur’ (cf. Isid. Etym. 17.2.3).
Sometimes Palladius has laetamen in a context in which Col¬
umella had used stercus (e.g. 3.20.2 = Col. 11.2.18); for the
alternation of laetamen and stercus in Palladius, see, e.g.
10.1.2-4. His use of both laetamen and stercus no doubt reflects
the current language of his day in Italy and Sardinia, in both
of which he had estates. Laetamen survived widely in Italy
and also in Sardinia. 1 Laetare (= stercorare), which Palladius
has 4 times, also lived on in a few Italian dialects (and
Engadine). 2

(v) Cunire and some comparable words

The mysterious verb cunire mentioned by Paul. Festus (p. 44
'cunire est stercus facere, unde et inquinare’) has been ex¬
plained by J. Andr6. 3 * * Andr6 argues for a phonetic alternation
incunare / inquinare ,* and establishes the existence of an in¬
transitive cunire ( -cacare ). Cunire has a derivative cunicu-
lum, attested at CGL VI.296 'cuniculum dicitur flux<us>
uentris’. Cunire (lit. roughly = 'make filth’) must be the in¬
transitive correspondent of transitive cunare, 'defile, soil with
excrement’, which may be attested at Mul. Chir. 431 'crura
sibi conabit’ (with a typical vulgar spelling o for u).

The association between 'filth, defilement’ and excretion is
a close one. Excrement is said to 'defile’ or to be 'filth’, and one
who excretes may 'dirty himself or ’defile’ something or some¬
one. Plautus’ expression inquinaui pallium at Pseud. 1279
('itaque dum enitor, prox! iam paene inquinaui pallium’) is
roughly equivalent to Eng. soil, dirty oneself. At CIL XII. 2426
spurcitiam facere = cacare: 'si quis in eo mixserit, spurcit(iam)
fecerit in temp(lo) Iouis’. Cf. Mul. Chir. 224 'acres humores et
spurcitiam corporis excludit’ (cf. Veg. Mul. 1.43.5). 6 The associ¬
ation of ideas can also be seen in the following selection of
passages: Hor. Serm. 1.8.37 'merdis caput inquiner albis / cor-

1 See REW 4845.

3 See REW 4846.

3 See Scritti in onore di Giuliano Bonfante (Brescia, 1976) I, pp. 19ff.

* For incunare, see Varro, Rust. 3.16.34.

‘ Spurcitia here is not exactly synonymous with the example above. At Mul.
Chir. 252 expurcitia may represent a conflation of spurcitia and expurgatio:

see Oder, Index, p. 369.

240

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

uorum’, Col. 8.5.19 'plumulaeque . . . detrahendae, ne stercore
coinquinatae durescant’, 8.7.2 'ne stercore coinquinentur’, Isid.
Etym. 11.1.133 'ex ipso enim sordes stercorum defluunt’. El-
uuies (lit. 'filth et sim. to be washed away’) is sometimes used
of excrement (e.g. Lucil. 645, [Aurel. Viet.] 2?pi<. de Caes. 9.18),
as is caenum (CGL IV.217.1). 1 The contamination of laetamen
(and lotium) with lutum (see p. 237 n. 1) is of course compar¬
able in type with the phraseology illustrated above; it is illu¬
minated by Auson. Epigr. 106.9, p. 351 P. 'luteae Symplegadis
antrum’, where the anus by implication contains lutum.

(vi) Foria and its derivatives

Foria is attested in two forms, as a neuter at Nonius p. 163 L.,
where it is glossed as stercora liquidiora, and as a feminine at
Varro Rust. 2.4.5, where it is a disease (unspecified) of cattle.
The two forms are given separate lemmata in the TLL, but
with little justification. 2 The variation of gender is of no conse¬
quence. Foria must have been a subliterary vulgarism = 'diar¬
rhoea, liquid excrement’, and it survived as (e.g.) Fr. foire. 3 The
disease of cattle might have been some sort of flux. The issue
is confused by Pelagonius’ peculiar remark, 183.1 'ad eos qui-
bus membra deficiunt, quod mulomedici foria appellant. He
was not thinking of diarrhoea, as is made clear at 183.2 'quibus
membra aut sole nimio aut labore deficiunt nec stare possunt,
. . . ne dolorem uentris sperans [= putans] medellas et curas
strofo praebeas’. The clause 'quod mulomedici foria appellant’
may be an interpolation, as suggested by Vollmer at TLL
VI.1.1055.23f. Dysentery or diarrhoea might well cause weak¬
ness (e.g. Mul. Chir. 431). The interpolator may have misun¬
derstood foria as meaning 'weakness’ from a passage in which
weakness was mentioned as a consequence of foria.

Foria had various derivatives. Conforio at Pompon. 64 ('con-
fori8ti me, Diomedes’) survives as Rum. cufuri. Foriolus at
Laber. 66 ('foriolus esse uidere: in coleos cacas’) has an obvious
enough tone in the context. Both words clearly refer to diar¬
rhoea, and both were vulgar. Cf. Schol. Juv. 3.38 'forirq est pro
deonerare uentrem’ (cf. CGL V.296.12). The intransitive use

1 See TLL m.98.79ff.

* See Fischer, Pelagonii Ars Veterinaria, p. 110.
s See REW 3438, FEW III, p. 711.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 241

of forire should be compared with that of cunire ; conforire was
transitivised by its prefix. The one word of this root which may
have achieved some respectability was forica, 'privy’ (Juv.
3.38, CGL V.296.11).

A more polite expression for 'diarrhoea’ was fluxus uentris
(e.g. Hipp. Aer. 3, p. 7.1, translating diappoCas). 1 Cf., e.g. uentris
effusio at Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.101, p. 200.3. Diarrhoea itself
is sometimes used in medical works (e.g. Theod. Prise. Eup.
2.37, p. 136.12).

(vii) Miscellaneous

(a) 'Sit’

For a typical euphemistic allusion to defecation, see Mart.
11.77.2 'die toto sedet’. The proverbial expression at Sen. Apoc.
10.3 ('tarn facile homines occidebat quam canis adsidit’) prob¬
ably refers to defecation rather than to a bitch urinating; the
euphemism was obviously a familiar one in ordinary speech.
It was taken over into the medical language. Desideo is used
by Celsus and Scribonius Largus, 2 and adsellor (based on the
syntagm ad sellam ire) is common in later medical and vet¬
erinary works. 3 The abstract assellatio sometimes comes close
to the concrete sense stercus (e.g. Cass. Fel. p. 130.13 assellatio
uentris humida). Contrast ps.-Theod. Prise. Addit. p. 304.13
'cum sellas perfecerit, intret balneum’, where sellas is virtually
equivalent to a verbal noun (= assellationem, deiectionem). Cf.
urina = *urinatio, below, p. 248.

( b) Deicio

Deicio was an old Latin euphemism, found first in Cato (e.g.
Agr. 158.1 'aluum deicere hoc modo oportet, si uis bene tibi
deicere’). The elliptical expression aluum deicere ('cast down
(the contents of) the intestine’) was obviously idiomatic (cf.
158.2); it referred to purging rather than natural excretion.
One effect of this, and perhaps similar, phrases was to cause
aluus to take on a derived sense, 'stercus, stool’: e.g. Cels.
2.6.12 'aluus quoque uaria pestifera est’ (cf. 3.18.18). Deicio

1 See further TLL VLl.985.22fF.

2 See TLL V.1.695.79ff.

3 See P. Flobert, Les verbes deponents latins des origines a Charlemagne
(Paris, 1975), p. 232.

242

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

shows a weakening of sense, 'purge’ > 'excrete normally’ by
the time of Celsus: e.g. 2.12.2B 'si stercoris odorem nihil de-
iciens aeger ex spiritu suo sentit’. For deiectio, see, e.g. Cels.
1.3.25. Note the pleonasm at Cass. Fel. p. 127.10 frequenti
deiectione assellationis (with assellationis concrete in meaning:
see above).

(c) 'Withdraw’

The euphemism of 'going 1 or 'withdrawing’, either for an un¬
specified purpose and to an unspecified destination (sc. ad
sellam), or to a place and for a purpose which, though they
may be specified, are euphemistically described (e.g. Eng. go
to the toilet), is probably familiar in most languages. Note Gk.
airo-iraTeo) at (e.g.) Aristoph. Eccl. 326, and cf. d4>o8eva>,
a<t>68evp.a, d<}>o8os. There was no well established euphemism
of this type in Latin, but note Plaut. Cure. 362 'dico me ire
quo saturi solent’, Sail. Hist. frg. inc. 3 'profectus quidam Ligus
ad requisita naturae’ (commented on by Quintilian, 8.6.59),
Amm. 23.6.79 'nec stando mingens nec ad requisita naturae
secedens’. With this use of secedo should be compared secessus
- 'privy’ at Vulg. Matth. 15.17 'non intelligitis quia omne,
quod in os intrat, in uentrem uadit, et in secessum emittitur’
(a4>e8pwv is translated). Secessus also tended to take on the
sense 'excrement’. 1 At Vindic. Epit. Alt. 27, p. 479.8 ('sed
malum signum est exigua meando libido’) meando is probably
not elliptical (sc. ad sellam), but a misspelling of meiando
(-i?). Meiere developed a first conjugation variant (p. 245).

(cf) Excerno, excrementum

Excerno, which is used first of excretion by Celsus (e.g. 2.4.9
'praeter haec periculum ostendit id quod excemitur, si est
exiguum. . .’), 2 is a caique on CKKpmo (L-S-J, s.v. 4; cf.
d-rroKpivcu at Hipp. Berol. 46.1 quoted below). The derivative
excrementum is used from Pliny the Elder onwards, 3 of any
type of bodily secretion (e.g. at Tac. Hist. 4.81, Ann. 16.4, of
the mouth and nose). Note Cael. Aurel. Acut. 1.114 'excre¬
ments uentris (Graeci scybala dicunt)’.

1 Svennung, p. 120.

2 See TLL V.2.1227.21ff.

2 TLL V.2.1283.47ff.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 243
(e) 'Expel’ and the like

Numerous verbs of this general semantic area are used eu¬
phemistically of urination and defecation and also vomiting,
particularly in technical prose. It would be pointless to distin¬
guish here between the first two senses.

For emitto, see Sen. Epist. 2.3 'cibus . . . qui statim sumptus
emittitur’ (cf. Veg. Mul. 1.17.4 'emittere lotium’). This verb
and some other compounds of mitto obviously had some cur¬
rency in technical registers. Compare, for example, Hipp. Aer.
9, p. 19.24 'demittunt facile urinam’ with the Greek Siowpcwn
pTItSuos, and Mul. Chir. 395 'duriorem uentrem facit et remittit
stercus durum’ with Hipp. Berol. 46.1, CHG I, p. 220.11f. a<|>o-

Setkov CTK\tiporepav €\ei rqv KoiXiav, Kal airoicpivei puiKpa, xai

(tworaToa rj I8pa (cf. Mul. Chir. 482 'quidquid remittit’).

Egero is particularly common in the Empire and later Latin:
e.g. Cass. Fel. p. 117.2 'urinae egerendae delectationem pa-
tiuntur’ ( delectatio = desiderium)} For egerenda = 'excrement’,
see Macrob. Sat. 7.4.17 'et inde uia est egerendis’. Egestio is
used both as a verbal abstract (e.g. Aug. Serm. 243.7.6), and
in a concrete sense, = 'excrement’ (e.g. Cass. Fel. p. 122.5 'est
autem dysenterica passio intestinorum causatio cum ulcera-
tione, ex qua excluditur egestio sanguinolenta aut fellita’.

With the use of excludo in this last passage, cf. Hipp. Aer.
9, p. 21.4 'limpidas manat, excluditur’, = to KaOap&mxTov 8aei
Kai e^oupecTai. 1 2

Cf. Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.31, p. 129.7 'expositis scybalis’, 3
Marc. Emp. 31.49 'quod et libidines offerendi et conatus
reprimet’. 4

if) 'Needs of nature’, etc.

This type of expression has been seen above (c requisita na¬
turae). Cf. ps.-Acron Hor. Serm. 1.6.109 'uas, in quo exoneratur
uenter, ... inuentum ad exquisita naturae’, Liutprandi Leg.
125 'puellam liberam sedentem ad necessitatem corporis sui
. . . ubi ipsa femina pro sua necessitatem nuda esse uedetur’.

1 For egero. Bee TLL V.2.244.7ff.

2 See TLL V.2.1271.51fF.

3 Similarly for depono, see TLL V.580.5ff. Cf. Svennung, p. 109 (pondus
depono). With this use of pondus, cf. exonero at, e.g. Plin. Nat. 10.126, ps.-
Acron Hor. Serm. 1.6.109, and expressions such as HA., Hel. 32.2 'onus
uentris auro excepit’ (cf. Mart. 1.37.1 and Citroni ad loc.).

* On conatus (conatio ), see Svennung, p. 109 n. 3.

244

The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

( g) Probrum

Sexual intercourse is often described as a 'disgrace’, as we
have seen. It is an extraordinary form of euphemism when the
excretory functions are spoken of in the same terms of moral
disapproval: but see Plin. Nat. 33.152 'eademque materia et
cibis et probris seruiat’.

(h) Farciminalis

Another isolated usage is farciminalis = stercus at Mul. Chir.
229 'cum haec tamen causa euenerit, per anum farciminalis
sero uenire solet’. It is a derivative of farcimen, which indi¬
cated a 'stuffed gut’ (i.e. a type of sausage). Farciminalis de¬
notes that with which the gut (still in the body) is stuffed.

(i) Some Greek words

A foreign word from the sexual or excretory spheres can be
euphemistic, because its impact on readers may be less im¬
mediate than that of a native word. When dealing with bodily
functions Cicero sometimes adopted Greek medical terms,
which he seems to have written in Greek script: Att. 10.10.3
'SucroupCa tua mihi ualde molesta; medere, amabo, dum est
dpxf)’, Fam. 7.26.1 'sane Svcrevrepiav pertimueram’, 7.26.2
'tanta me Siappoia adripuit ut. . .’. Later medical writers in¬
troduced aia3pa\ov from the Greek medical language as a term
for excrement: e.g. Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.25, p. 122.12 'coacti
scybala uel urinas . . . excludere’ (cf. 2.28, p. 125.20, 2.29,
p. 126.16f., 2.31, p. 129.7, Oribas. Syn. 1.19 La, p. 67.4
Mprland, Mul. Chir. 230, Veg. Mul. 1.47.2.

At Mul. Chir. 139 ('dare etiam bibere pusillum non contin¬
uum et intermittentem producere caute et bolutationes et ur-
inam prouocare’) bolutationes (= 'defecation’) may be due to a
conflation of PoXcrov and uolutare. 1

On facio, see p. 204, and on facio oletum, p. 68, n. 2.

1 See Oder, Index, p. 330, s.vv. bolutare, bolutatio. The examples of uolutare
at 148 and 433 are also quoted by Oder in this connection, but the second case
is highly dubious.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 245
2. Urination

(i) Mingo and meio

It is not easy to separate these two verbs in Republican and
early Imperial Latin. Do the perfect mixi and supine mictum
belong to meio, or are they parts of mingo, without the nasal
infix? Were they perhaps borrowed by meio from mingo ? Were
there historically two distinct perfects, mixi / minxi, or were
scribes responsible for adding (or subtracting) n haphazardly?
Manuscripts are often split between mix- / minx- or between
mict- / mind- (e.g. Catull. 99.10, Hor. Serm. 1.2.44, 1.3.90,
Mart. 3.78.1). In the infectum meio is attested for the first
time in Catullus (97.8 meientis). Mingo may occur for the first
time in the Republican orator Titius, but it is not in the infec¬
tum (frg. 2 it minctum, quoted by Macrob. Sat. 3.16.16 with a
nasal infix). Most of the Republican and Augustan examples
of the two (?) verbs, whether meaning 'urinate’ or 'ejaculate’,
are in the perfect or supine (Catull. 39.18 minxit, 67.30 minx-
erit, 78b.2 conminxit (a conjecture), 99.10 commidae, Hor.
Serm. 1.2.44 perminxerunt, 1.3.90 comminxit, 1.8.38 ueniat
midum-, cf. CIL IV.4957 miximus). From this period onwards
the infectum meio becomes common enough (Hor. Serm. 2.7.52
meiat, Pers. 1.114 meiite, 6.73 inmeiat, Petron. 67.10 meiere,
Mart. 11.46.2 meiere, 12.32.13 meiebat, Juv. 1.131 meiere). The
infectum ming-, however, does not appear until the fourth
century (see below). 1 It is not impossible that meio, mixi, mic¬
tum was the original verb, and that mingo was a late back-
formation from the perfectum formed on the analogy of those
verbs which lost a nasal infix in the perfectum. Late scribes
might have added the nasal infix haphazardly in the perfectum
and supine in Republican and Augustan writers.

In late Latin a first conjugation variant meiare made an
appearance (e.g. Mul. Chir. 399; for the perfectum, see Diosc.
Lat. II, p. 207.1 meiauerit), perhaps under the influence of
co care. Meiare survives in the Romance languages (e.g. Sp.
mear, Pg. mijar). 2

1 On the problem of meio / mingo, see F. Sommer, Handbuch der lateinischen
Laut- und Formenlehre 2 3 (Heidelberg, 1914), p. 500, J. B. Hofmann, Glotta
29 (1942), pp. 41ff., Emout and Meillet, s.vv.

2 REVf 5468.

246 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

Mention of urination may not have been under such a strong
taboo as that of defecation (unseemly though the act may have
been considered by some: see Amm. 23.6.79), and there is no
word attested in Latin which seems to have been quite as
offensive as caco. 1 Mingo (in late Latin) was a direct verb, in
that it had no other more basic meaning than 'urinate’. But
though it is by no means common in literature, it was not an
outright obscenity. It is admitted in various works from which
basic obscenities were excluded. Apart from one possible case
in Titius and another in Juvenal (3.107), there are certain
examples in Ammianus (23.6.79), the Historic Augusta (Quad.
Tyr. 14.5; cf. Hel. 32.2 minxit ), medical writers (e.g. Cass. Fel.
pp. 113.19, 117.2; see below on Vegetius) and the Vulgate (6
times). The failure of mingo to survive in the Romance
languages shows that it did not have a popular character, at
least in the late period. The supine mictum leaves traces, 2 no
doubt because the expression ire (uenire) mictum was idiom¬
atic (see Titius frg. 2, Hor. Serm. 1.8.38), but it is not certain
whether this is the supine of meio or mingo.

Meio was a more popular word, but its distribution is not
the same as that of caco. Unlike mingo , it survives in Romance.
Its relatively low status, at least in late Latin, is shown by
Vegetius’ use of mingo in contexts in which the more vulgar
Mulomedicina Chironis has meio (e.g. Veg. Mul. 1.46.1 = Mul.
Chir. 228, Veg. Mul. 2.79.1 = Mul. Chir. 460). 3 Nevertheless
meio is admitted by Persius and Juvenal (see above), both of
whom avoid caco. At Juv. 1.131 meio is used in a context in
which caco is merely implied. Similarly in the Mulomedicina
Chironis meio is admitted but caco avoided, even though de¬
fecation is often mentioned. Meio was obviously a sub-standard
word, but it was not subject to such a rigid veto as caco.

(ii) Lotium and urina

Lotium began as a euphemism (lit. 'liquid for washing’, <
lauo). It would have developed the sense 'urine’ from the cus¬
tom of employing urine as a liquid for washing clothes and

1 It is of course impossible to determine the tone of *piiare in our period, if
it was in existence. It survived throughout the Romance-speaking world (REW
6544).

2 REW 5563.

3 See further TLL VIII.604.54f.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 247

other objects (see Isid. Etym. 11.1.138 'qui humor uulgo lotium
dicitur, quod eo lota, id est munda, uestimenta efficiantur’).
Something of the etymological force of lotium is still apparent
at Catull. 39.21 (of urine used for cleaning the teeth).

The distribution of lotium and urina is as follows:

Cato, Agr.

lotium

10

urina

Varro, Rust.

—

2

Cicero

—

1

Catullus

1

1

Celsus

—

88

Seneca, phil.

—

1

Columella

2

19

Petronius

1

—

Juvenal

—

2

Suetonius

1

4

Apuleius

2

2

Palladius

1

34

Pelagonius

8

13

Mul. Chir.

37

23

Vegetius, Mul.

22

27

Vulgate

-

2

Marc. Emp.

35

74

Theod. Prise., Eup.

2

11

Diosc. Lat. II

4

22

Cassius Felix

—

27

In Cato lotium is the standard word, but by the end of the
Republic and early Empire (Varro, Cicero, and most notably
Celsus) urina was clearly the polite term. One must assume
either that Cato deliberately admitted a colloquial word (156.7
'quibus aegre lotium it’ looks like a colloquial idiom; cf. 127.1
'lotium facere’), or that urina was not yet established in the
educated language. Vrina is a puzzling word. The verb urinor
means 'dive’ (Varro Ling. 5.126), and urinator 'diver’. The
relationship between these derivatives and urina = 'urine’ is
obscure. Perhaps urina originally meant 'water’; 1 hence inu-
rinare, 'dive (into water)’ (Col. 8.14.2). Whatever the case,
urina = 'urine’ may have become established as a technical

1 See Emout and Meillet, s.v.

248 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

term because it was associated with o&pov and oupew, both
medical terms. As the educated term urina did not survive
into the Romance languages except as a learned loan-word.
But lotium is well represented. 1 Some of its reflexes mean 'ur¬
ine’, but others are more general (e.g. Apul. lottsu, 'mud’).
Lotium tended to be contaminated phonetically with lutum,
and a semantic contamination would also have taken place.
For the association of the two words, see Pelagon. 155 'lutum
de uia, id est ex lotio cuiuslibet equi factum’ (cf. Veg. Mul.
2.79.22). Isidore’s description of lotium as vulgar is certainly
accurate for the period from the late Republic onwards. Hence
it is noteworthy that in veterinary works (including that of
Vegetius) lotium is abnormally frequent. In agricultural Latin
lotium may have lost any vulgar of offensive tone which it had
in other varieties of the language (cf. merda ). The specialised
meaning 'urine of the cow’ which one of its Romance reflexes
has (Val.-ses. lots ) must reflect its currency among farmers. It
may already have been a farmers’ term as used by Cato.

There is an example of lotium in a freedman’s speech in
Petronius, in an expression with a proverbial ring (57.3 'qui
non ualet lotium suum’). That at Suet. Vesp. 23.3 is in direct
speech following urina in the narrative. In the Scholia to Ju¬
venal at 6.312 Juvenal’s urinam is glossed with lotium. The
derivative lotiolentus at Titin. 137 would suggest that there
was a coarse element in the vocabulary of the fabula togata
which was missing from that of palliata. Excretion, including
urination, is an occasional source of jokes in Plautus, but
explicit terminology is avoided (Cure. 362 and Pseud. 1279
have been quoted earlier; cf. Cure. 415f., Most. 386, Pers. 98).

Vrina had acquired no corresponding verbal noun urinatio,
because of the sense attaching to urinor, -atio. Hence urina
itself (in the genitive) often behaves as a verbal abstract, as
at Cels. 2.1.8 'urinae difficultas, quam o-rpayyovpiav appel¬
lant’, Cass. Fel. p. 115.14, etc. It was a more normal semantic
development for an abstract noun to become concrete in mean¬
ing, as at Cass. Fel. p. 116.18 'sanguinolentus minctus aut
saniosus’. Minctus is a few times used by Cassius Felix as a
verbal noun (note p. 113.11 minctus difficultate), as is minctio
by the author of the Mulomedicina Chironis 2 and by Vegetius

1 REW 5129.

2 See Oder, Index, s.v.

The Vocabulary Relating to Bodily Functions 249

(e.g. Mul. 1.50.1). Gerund / gerundive expressions were also
employed (e.g. Cass. Fel. p. 116.2 'initio urinae excludendae’).
The Greek words dysuria, stranguria and ischuria were well
established in the Latin medical language ( stranguria from
Cato onwards: Agr. 127.1), and the use of one of these might
sometimes save a Latin writer from the need to select a Latin
verbal noun or equivalent. 1 Cicero’s choice of the Greek form
fttxrovpCa at Att. 10.10.3 has been noted earlier.

3. Pedo and its alternatives

Pedo 'fart’ (of root *pezd-, alongside *perd-, seen in Gk. irep8o-
poa) has numerous Indo-European cognates as well as Rom¬
ance reflexes (e.g. Olt. pedere, OFr. poire). The noun peditum,
used by Catullus at 54.3, also lived on into the modem
languages (e.g. It. peto, Fr. pet). 2 Pedo is not the sort of word
one would expect to find in polite literature, but it occurs in
the first book of Horace’s Sermones (1.8.46; cf. oppedo, with a
dative complement, at Serm. 1.9.70), and in Martial (6 times).
According to Cicero, the innocent word intercapedo contained
a cacemphaton: Fam. 9.22.4 'non honestum uerbum est "di-
uisio”? at inest obscenum, cui respondet "intercapedo” See
further Garg. Mart. Curae Bourn 12 'intestinum enim mouit
ut pedere non cesset’.

Words of this root had an onomatopoeic origin, and the same
is true of uissire (a cacemphaton contained in Cicero’s diuisio
above). The implication of uissire, with its lack of a plosive
consonant, is well illustrated by the inscription published by
Calza, Die Antike 15 (1939), p. 102 'uissire tacite Chilon docuit
subdolus’. Vissire rarely surfaces in recorded Latin, but it
survives in Romance, 3 along with various derivatives (*uissi-
nare, uissio ). 4

A less offensive substitute for pedo was the more general
verb crepo. Crepo was employed in a speech by Cato (frg. 73),
in reference to a controversy concerning the ill-omened char¬
acter of farting: 'serui, ancillae, si quis eorum sub centone

1 For more basic, non-abstract references to such afflictions, see Cato, Agr.
122 'si lotium difflcilius transibit’, 156.7 'quibus aegre lotium it’.

J REW 6358.

3 REW 9382.

4 REW 9380, 9381.

250 The Latin Sexual Vocabulary

crepuit, quod ego non sensi, nullum mihi uitium facit. si cui
ibidem seruo aut ancillae dormienti euenit, quod comitia pro-
hibere solet. . .’. The same topic is touched upon by Martial
(12.77), who also uses crepo: 11 'sed quamuis sibi cauerit cre-
pando, / compressis natibus Iouem salutat’. Crepo is also used
in this way by Plautus in a pun at Poen. 610: 'fores hae fece-
runt magnum flagitium modo. / ADV. quid <id> est flagiti?
CO. crepuerunt clare. ADV. di te perduint!’. For farting as a
flagitium, see Mart. 12.77.7 'post hoc flagitium misellus Ae-
thon . ..’ (cf. uitium in the passage of Cato above). Jupiter is
said by Martial to have been offended by the action. Plautus
does not use offensive terminology in his puns, nor indeed is
Cato likely to have done so in a speech. Cf. Plaut. Men. 925f.
'enumquam intestina tibi crepant, quod sentias? / MEN. ubi
satur sum, nulla crepitant, quando essurio, turn crepant. For
crepitus uentris, see, e.g. Suet. Claud. 32.

Crepitus had long overlapped, and been associated, with
strepitus (e.g. Plaut. Amph. 1062). Occasionally strepitus is
used as an equivalent of crepitus in our sense: e.g. Petron.
117.12 'tollebat subinde altius pedem et strepitu obsceno simul
atque odore uiam implebat’ (cf. Min. Fel. Oct. 28.9, Mul. Chir.
38, 464).

In medical Latin flatulence is usually described by means of
circumlocutions containing (e.g.) inflatio (Cels. 2.3.6, 4.23.2),
spiritus (Cels. 2.12.2B, 4.19.1), uentus (Mul. Chir. 231), uen-
tositas (Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.84, p. 186.10). Cf. iryevpa (L-S-J,
s.v. II.3). For an expression of this type in non-technical Latin,
see Plaut. Aul. 304f. 'etiamne opturat inferiorem gutturem, /
ne quid animai forte amittat dormiens’; cf. perhaps Cure. 314-
16 ( uentum facere).

Addenda and Corrigenda

p. 20: Pompon. 40.1 print Frassinetti’s text (34). O. Ribbeck,
Comicorum Romanorum praeter Plautum et Syri quae feruntur
Sententias Fragmenta 3 (Leipzig, 1898) prefers coculeatum
(Buecheler). The codd. at Non. pp. 7, 150, and 267 L. are split
between coleatum, cocleatum, clocleatum, culeratum, culenarum.

p. 22: For tcepas, see R. L. Hunter, ZPE 41 (1981), pp. 20f.

p. 22: Noyius 80.1 quote the fragment in the form which it has in
Festus. Ribbeck 3 has <ut> otiosi (Buecheler), Frassinetti (79)
'quid ego facerem otio si rodebam rutabulum’.

p. 27: Plaut. Cos. 912 'profecto hercle non fuit quicquam holerum’
would have particular point if vegetable-names were commonly
used of the male organ in jokes. The passage is full of
agricultural terminology: see W. T. MacCary and M. M. Willcock,
Plautus Casina (Cambridge, 1976), 914n. on grandis and
calamitas.

p. 35: On 4>\e»|i, see Hunter, ZPE 41 (1981), p. 21.

p. 37:1 would no longer subscribe to the interpretation of bracchia
macro at Priap. 72.4 tentatively suggested here.

p. 38, with n. 2:1 am no longer convinced by this interpretation of
Cic. Sest. 16.

p. 39: On ScAtoi see now D. M. Bain, LCM 7.1 (January 1982),
pp. 8f.

p. 43:1 take peculium to mean 'penis’ not 'anus’ at Plaut. Pseud.
1188 because of the expression 'femina summa sustinent’. The
'thighs’ (femina ), the tiop of the thighs’ (see Juv. 6.423), the 'space
between the thighs’ et sim. are often spoken of in Latin as the
site of the genital organs (see pp. 51,93), but not, as far as I
know, of the cuius. Harpax would thus be abused as a man who
sold his mentula (cf. Mart. 1.58, 9.63, Juv. 9.136), whereas at
1181 he was abused as a pathic. In invective a man may be
labelled both a pathicus and pedicator. see Cic. Cat. 2.8.

252 Addenda and Corrigenda

p. 45: Pompon. 86. The interpretation of this fragment is extremely
doubtful; Ribbeck 3 prints 'farinam insipui concussi condepsui’. If
partem had an anatomical sense, it would only be object of the
first two verbs; there would have to be a pause before condepsui.

p. 57: With uenus, cf. Theod. Prise. Eup. 2.33, p. 131.11 'hi etenim
frequenter usum erigere uenerium consuerunt’.

p. 57: For surgo, see Ovid Am. 2.15.25, Mart. 12.86.2,12.97.9 (cf.
Apul. Met. 7.23).

p. 57, sect, v: Buecheler, RhM 18 (1863), p. 400, = Kleine Schriften
I, p. 347 may have been right in suggesting that stator indicates
the mentula at Priap. 52.3: 'iam primum stator hie libidinosus /
altemis et eundo et exeundo / porta te faciet patentiorem’ (for
libidinosus, cf. 63.14). It would be used in its etymological sense
('the one who stands’; cf. sto at Mart. 2.45.1, 3.75.1, Priap. 73.2),
and would thus be an ad hoc 'descriptive’ designation. But
statores ('orderlies’) might have a crude virility (Petron. 126.5),
and various other extraneous characters (and an asellus ) are
introduced in 52 to punish the thief.

p. 62: For sexus, cf. Cass. Fel. p. 174.11.

p. 65: J. Knobloch’s view (RhM 112 (1969), pp. 23ff.) that
salaputium was inoffensive (= 'little chap’) is no more compelling
than any other interpretation hitherto proposed. Knobloch sees in
the second element the same root as in pusus, putus, pullus etc.,
but his argument (pp. 26f.) that sala- is a 'lallende
Wortverlangerung’ (with dubious affiliations) carries no
conviction. The fact that Salaputis (-ium ?) was a cognomen (see
Knobloch p. 27, quoting CIL VIII.10570) does not of course
establish the inoffensiveness of salaputium (cf. p. 63 on Penis and
Mutto).

p. 68: The text and interpretation of Priap. 50.6 remain unclear to
me. For pares ('equal’) as an epithet of testes, see Col. 6.29.2
(Pelagon. 2).

p. 83: Laber. 25.1 quote the fragment in a form close to the
paradosis (Non. p. 154 L. 'an concupisti eugium scindere’). Bothe
suggested concupiuisti. Ribbeck made a radical transposition.

p. 84: Matthew of Vendome, Milo 68 d contains a verbal
(agricultural) metaphor, not a nominal.

p. 88: For doubts about this interpretation of uter at Mul. Chir. 224,
see Fischer, Pelagonii Ars Veter inaria, p. 106.

p. 90: On sinus and koAttos see now P. Migliorini, Prometheus 7
(1981), pp. 254ff.

p. 93 n. 3: Cf. Mart. 3.81.1 femineo ... barathro.

Addenda and Corrigenda 253

pp. 95, 224: Viscera at Ovid Am. 2.14.27 could equally well be
interpreted as meaning 'foetus’ (cf. the use of uterus and uenter
mentioned on p. 102). For uiscera = 'womb’, see Quint. 10.3.4.

p. 97: At Jer. Epist. 84.5.3 it is a question whether membra
individually are resurrected. Coitus must be given a concrete
anatomical sense. If Jerome were talking of male and female
parts, he would have mentioned those of the male first, to judge
by the rest of the passage. Since uulua comes first, I assume that
he has used the female body for this illustration.

pp. 111 f.: G. Neumann, Wiirz. Jahrb. 6a (1980), p. 174n.6 suggests
apsculare for apoculare. But would a vulgar compound have
contained the archaic abs-, unless it were very old?

p. 114: For a convincing (non-sexual) interpretation of Eupunraq see
now A. Cameron, GRBS 22 (1981), pp. 179ff.

p. 114: For the active participant in a sexual act described as
'burning’ the passive, cf. CIL IV.1840 'Maria urit, fellat bene’.

The metaphor on the coins is akin to that of 'striking’. Verbs of
burning readily develop a metaphorical use of'burning’ with
blows (Hor. Epist. 1.16.47).

p. 116: For cunnus = cuius, see CIL IV.8898 'Popilus canis cunnu
linge Reno’ (cf. 8843).

p. 127: For the joke of'silencing’ someone, see also Min. Fel. Oct.
28.10 'homines malae linguae etiam si tacerent’.

pp. 137f.: The overlap between Kiveu> and fliveu> may have arisen
because luveu) came to be used as a phonetically suggestive
substitute for the direct verb.

pp. 141,172: Pompon. 151. The text is that of Frassinetti (150). On
has see his note ad. loc.

p. 143 n. 1: For finis see also Priap. 26.4 'sine fine prurientes’, with
which should be compared Mart. 11.81.4 'sine effectu prurit
utrique labor 1 . Cf. William of Blois, Alda 467 'crebros in fine
salientis senserat Alda / uirge singultus’.

p. 144: With effectus at Mart. 11.81.4, cf. Petron. 140.9 'cum ergo
res ad effectum spectaret’.

p. 144: According to H. D. Jocelyn, in F. Cairns (ed.), Papers of the
Liverpool Latin Seminar Third Volume (Liverpool, 1981),
pp. 279f., propero at Mart. 1.46.1 means 'I am in a hurry to do
something elsewhere’. But this rare idiomatic use could only be
given to the word in the presence of clear contextual pointers.
There is no hint in Mart. 1.46 of another task, extraneous to the
epigram, to which Hedylus is to move on. In various words in the
poem sexual intercourse is by implication likened to spatial

254 Addenda and Corrigenda

motion ( expectare, uelocius, ibo, retentus), and these are the
pointers by which propero must be interpreted. It is certain that
propero could have the implication 'perform a physical act
quickly, come quickly to a physical climax’ of one sort or another.
That is the sense that ne properem must be given, on any
interpretation of the epigram, in line 4 (where Jocelyn would
have to give propero two different meanings). It is also the sense
of propero in the inscription from Ostia, whether the writer had
in mind defecation or ejaculation; there too other words relevant
to spatial motion are used. And it is the sense that the verb has
at Ovid Ars 2.727 (ad metam properate). This last expression, like
coitum patrare, is an expansion of an elliptical usage of the
spoken language.

p. 146: Cecidit at Petron. 21.2 is unlikely to refer to pedicatio
performed by the cinaedus. The usage is analogous to that of
distriuit at 24.4 (of the motions of the cinaedus astride his supine
victim). Extortis clunibus must mean 'with his own clunes twisted
apart’. In both passages the cinaedus employs his dunes and
basia.

p. 151: For 'digging 1 , see also Plaut. Cas. 455 'tecfodere hercle hie
uolt, credo, uesicam uilico’ (of homosexual assault: see MacCary
and Willcock ad loc.). The notion that penetration might reach
the bladder throws light on Juv. 1.39 (see pp. 91f.). For this type
of exaggeration, see Priap. 6.6, 25.6f., 51.4, Auson. Cent. Nupt.
127, p. 217 P.

pp. 156f.: With labor, etc., cf. laboriosus at Petron. 92.9, of a man
whose endowments cause him much labor.

pp. 159f.: Cf. facere nuptias at Plaut. Cas. 486; for the various
senses of nubo, see also Jocelyn, Papers of the Liverpool Latin
Seminar Third Volume, pp. 277f.

p. 162: It is not made explicit here that both lusus and ludus could
have a sexual sense.

pp. 167f.: Intercourse may, of course, be 'stolen’ or 'taken’: e.g.

Plaut. Cas. 891 'cupio illam operam seni surrupere’ (here
intercourse with a woman is 'stolen’ from another male), Petron.
86.4 'si ego huic [dormienti] abstulero coitum plenum et
optabilem’, 100.1 'etiam cum uoluerit aliquid sumere, opus
anhelitu prodet’.

p. 168: For a financial interpretation of glubo and rado, see H.
Trankle, Mus. Helv. 38 (1981), pp. 245ff.

p. 173: For xakdw, see also ps.-Luc. Asinus 9.

p. 176: With Mart. 12.75.1, cf. Priap. 68.27 'ad uetulam tamen ille
suam properabat’, and also Plaut. Cas. 889-90 'enim iam magis
adpropero, magis iam lubet in Casinam inruere’.

Addenda and Corrigenda 255

p. 179: Coitus could also be scanned as trisyllabic at Lucr. 1.185,

Stat. Theb. 10.796 and Juv. 10.204, but in all of these places a
disyllabic scansion is also possible. If cbttus existed, it would be
a recomposition (see F. Sommer, Handbuch der lateinischen Laut-
und Formenlehre*, revised by R. Pfister (Heidelberg, 1977), p. 96;
cf. p. 67 on the phonetics of coetus), but I am now inclined to
doubt the authenticity of the trisyllabic form. Even the spelling
coitus could be a scribal invention.

p. 180: For the feet in intercourse, see also Plaut. Cos. 465 'hodie
hercle, opinor, hi conturbabunt pedes’.

p. 181: Hipp. Horn. 3 should read Hipp. Nat. Horn. 3.

p. 185: With the stages of amor at Don. Ter. Eun. 640, cf. Petron.
109.2 'non amplexum, non osculum, non coitum uenere
constrictum’.

p. 187: Cf. pertracto at Petron. 24.7.

p. 188: With libido and uenus, cf. uota of intercourse in Petronius
(11.1, 86.5, 94.5; cf. 87.8 'quod uoluerat accepit’).

p. 190: For omnia with a sexual implication, see also Petron. 11.2,
130.5.

pp. 193f.: For uolutor, see also [Cic.) lnu. in Sail. 1.3, quoted below.

p. 196: For other expressions comparable with uirginitate priuauit
in the Latin novel, cf. Petron. 9.4 'coepitque mihi uelle pudorem
extorquere’ (spoken by Giton, and hence scarcely of deflowering;
used thus the phrase is a 'persuasive’ euphemism intended to
imply that the speaker was more chaste than was really the
case), 112.1 'pudicitiam eius aggressus est’.

p. 198: Iniuria as it is used in the Satyricon has the appearance of a
homosexuals’ vogue term for pedicatio of a boy (cf. 79.9, where
the word was deleted by Muller, and 133.1; note too 133.2
'iurauit. .. sibi ab Ascylto nullam uim factam’).

p. 200: For uexo, cf. Aug. Ciu. 6.9 'ne Siluanus deus per noctem
ingrediatur et uexet’.

p. 204: With the idiom fac si.. . ('do it if. . .’) in a homosexual
context at Mart. 1.46.1, cf. Petron. 87.5 'si quid uis, fac iterum’.

p. 205: Laber. 56. Ribbeck’s scando (for scinde), printed in the first
edition of CRF, is attractive in the context, provided of course
that a sexual act was being described. In his third edition
Ribbeck preferred 'scinde una exoieto <huic> patienti <hanc>
catulientem lupam’, and he is followed by M. Bonaria, Romani
Mimi (Rome, 1965), no. 70.

p. 206: For salax transferred to men, see also Catull. 37.1 salax

256

Addenda and Corrigenda

taberna (= taberna solatium : Kroll), Petron. 43.8 'noueram
hominem olim oliorum, et adhuc aalax erat’, Priap. 56.5 'mandabo
domino tamen salaci’; cf. Hor. Serm. 1.2.45 caudamqm salacem.

p. 208: To the verbs listed add agito (p. 144).

p. 209: With Mart. 11.104.Ilf. cf CIL X.4483 'diciti adiuuabunt
prurigin[em]’; adiuuo here should be compared with iuuare in
Martial.

p. 235: The generality of stercus is also illustrated by its use =
'contents of the stomach’: e.g. Pelagon. 88 'tolles illi uentrem et
sic, quomodo est cum stercore suo, inuoluis ilium . . .’ (cf. 138.1).

p. 237: For the metaphorical use of stercus, see also Sen. Apoc. 7.5.

p. 237 n. 1. The contamination of lutum with lotium and laetamen
is illuminated by facias lutum at Afran. 199 ('non usque quaque
idoneum inuenias locum, / ubi derepente cum uelis facias lutum’),
which may refer to urination (cf. Pelagon. 155, quoted at p. 248)
or defecation (cf. luteae at Auson. Epigr. 106.9, lutulentus at [Cic.]
Inu. in Sail. 1.3 quoted below). The passage of Afranius was
drawn to my attention by H. D. Jocelyn.

p. 238: With fabulus and faba, cf. Catull. 23.21 'nec toto decies
cacas in anno, atque id durius est faba'.

p. 240: With luteae at Auson. Epigr. 106.9, cf. perhaps lutulentus at
ICic.] Inu. in Sail. 1.3 'itaque nihil aliud studet nisi ut lutulentus
cum quouis uolutari’.

p. 243, sect. f. Compare the use of officium at Hippocr. Aer. 9,
p. 21.9 'perhibet [sic] officium urinae’ (= KtaMSei ovpceiv).

p. 247: For lotium used with its etymological force, see also Cato
Agr. 157.11, Pelagon. 56, 294, 348, 448.2.

Index

i.

abdomen, 49, 104
abligurio, 140
absorbeo, 140
abutor, 198
accedo, 175-8
actus, 205
adduco, 175
adeo, 176
admisceo, 181
admissarius, 207
admissura, 207
admit to, 206-7
admoueo, 207
adsellor, 241
adsido, 241
adsilio, 206
aduento, 144
aduentor, 176
agellus, 24, 84, 113
ager, 24, 84, 113, 154
agito, 144-5 ('masturbate'), 194
(+ clunem)

ago, 116 (+ penem ), 205
alicariae (reliquiae), 153
alta ('mouth'), 47, 212
aluta, 40, 220
aluus, 100, 241 ('stool’)
amabiliter, 137 n.l
ambulo(in), 191
arnica (manus), 209
a mo, 188, 223
amor, 57 (concrete), 188
amplector, 181
anchora, 25
anguis, 31
anhelo, 195
anima, 250

Latin

antrum, 85

anus, 3, 10, 114-15, 226
apex, 17 n.2
apoculo, 111-12
applico, 207
ara, 87, 220, 228
aratio, 154

aratiuncula, 24, 84, 219
arcus, 21
arma, 17, 21, 224
aro, 24, 154, 219
arrurabiliter (?), 125 n.2
aruos (ager), 84
aruum, 24, 28, 84
ascendo, 206
ascensus, 206
assellatio, 241, 242
attamino, 199
attero, 184
attingo, 186, 220
attractis pedibus, 192
attrecto, 186-7

balanus, 72, 98, 228 n.2

barathrum, 86, 220

barba, 212 n.l

basis, 108

basus (= uasus), 42

battuo, 147, 168

bellum, 143, 158

beta, 26

betizo, 26

bibo, 139

bilibres, 71 (+ testiculi, fratres)
bolutatio, 244
bracchia, 17, 37-8
breues, 39, 71 (syllabae)

258

Index

bucca, 211-12
bulga, 87-8
bursa, 75-6

cacator, 124, 231
cacatrix (-is), 231
cacaturio, 231

coco, 2, 66, 68, 133, 137-8, 171-2,
219, 220, 221, 231-3
cacumen, 72
cado, 194
cadurcum, 65-6
caedo, 145-6, 168, 219, 220
caenum, 240

calo, 172-3, 215, 216, 228
capillus, 76
capitatus, 31
capulus, 20, 21
capus, see scapus
caput, 31, 72, 180 (+ lima), 192
(capita demisso ), 212 n.l
caracium, 16 n.l
*caraculum, 15-16, 23, 214
catamitus, 123, 228 n.l
cauda, 35, 36-7, 221
cauerna, 85
caula, 27 n. 1

caulis, 24, 26-7, 60, 74, 227, 228
caulus, 72
celerius, 144

cephalum (inguinis), 72, 229
ceruix, 108-9
ceuentinabiliter, 137
ceueo, 2, 136-7
ceuulus, 136

chelidon, 28, 82, 221, 228
Chia, 113, 202 (+ uita ), 220
cicer, 28, 221, 228
cimbala, 71

cinaedus, 123, 132 ( cinaediorem ),
194, 228
circulus, 73
citocacia, 232
clauus, 25

Clazomenae, 114, 221
clinopale, 158, 229
clunes, 115, 137 (+ agito), 194
(+ agito )
coeo, 178-9
coetus, 179
cognosco, 190
cohaereo, 181
coitio, 179

coitus, 97 (concrete), 179, 189, 221

coleatus, 20, 66-7, 219
coleo, 67

coleus, 2, 20, 66, 68, 212

coliculus, 26

colluctatio, 158

collum, 108 (with n.3)

columna, 16-17

colyphium, 49-50

comedo, 50, 129, 139, 140, 141, 172

commercium, 156 n.4, 203

commisceo, 181

compingo, 23

complector, 181

complexus, 181

compressio, 182

compressus, 182

comprimo, 182—3, 219, 224

conatus (-tio), 243 n.4

concaco, 232

concido, 147, 152, 215, 219
concilium, 179
concubitus, 177
concumbo, 177
condepso, 154
conficio, 159, 196
confinia (laterum), 90
conforio, 172, 240-1
congressio, 179
coniugatio, 179
coniugium, 160
coniunctio, 179
coniungo, 179
conluctor, 158
conquinisco, 193, 226
consero, 154
consortium, 179
conspicio, 23
conspurco, 199
constupro, 201
contamino, 199, 223
contingo, 186, 227
contrecto, 186
contubernium, 161
contus, 17, 23, 150
conubium, 161
conuenio, 179
conuentio, 179
conuentus, 179
copula, 179
corneus, 21
cornu, 22

corpus, 46, 54 n.3 (genitive), 61
(+ naturale), 69, 180, 224
corrumpo, 199, 219, 223

Index

259

cortex, 74, 168
coxim, 193 •
crepito, 250
crepitus (uentris), 250
crepo, 249-50
criso, 2, 136-7, 146 n.l
crispitudo, 137
crispo, 137
crista, 98
cristatus, 98
cubito, 177
cubitura, 177
cubitus, 177
cubo, 177

cucumis, 24, 27, 219
cucutium, 73-4
culibonia, 110, 111
culiola. 111
culo, 111-12

cuius, 2, 110-12, 134, 135, 220, 226
cuniculum, 239
cunio, 239
cunnilingus, 81, 135
cunnus, 2, 9, 66, 77, 80-1,116, 134,
135, 214, 220, 221, 226
cuno, 239
curculio, 33
curiose (loqui), 80
cuspis, 20, 77, 219
*cutio, 147
cutis, 73, 81, 147

dart us, 72

datatim, 169 n.l, 227
debattuo, 147, 153, 215
decerpo(uirginitatem), 196
dedecus, 201
dedolo, 149, 215
defutuo, 119

deglubo, 74, 146 n.l, 168, 208
de hones to, 199
deicio (aluum), 241-2
de lectio, 242
deiecto, 197, 215

deliciae, 171, 196-7, 220, 223, 227
delumbo, 48

demitto, 192 (capite demisso), 243
(urinam)
depono, 243 n.3
depso, 153-4,168
depudico, 196
desideo, 241
destillator, 124
deuirgino, 196

deuoro, 139, 140
diarrhoea, 241
diffutuo, 119
digiti, 209
dirumpo, 150, 219
distero, 153, 183—4
diuida, 151, 219
dolo, 147, 149, 219, 220
dormio, 177
duco, 174
ductito, 175
ducto, 174-5, 226
dysuria, 249

edo, 140,141,172
effectus, 144
effodio, 151
effusio (uentris), 241
effutuo, 4, 119
egerenda, 243
egero, 243
egestio, 243
elingo, 127,135
eluuies, 240
emitto ( lotium), 243
emundo, 209
eneruo, 38

eo, 144, 175 (+ ad), 190 (+ per)
equito, 166, 221
equus, 34, 74 n.2, 165
esurio, 139

eugium, 32, 83, 173, 215, 216, 221,
228

excauo, 152, 220
excerno, 242
excipio, 140
exclude, 243
excorio, 73, 209
excrementum, 242
exerceo, 158 n.l
exercitatio, 158 n.l
exitus, 144
exmucco, 209
exonero, 243 n.3
exorbeo, 139—40
expatro, 143
expono, 243
expurcitia (?), 239 n.5
exquisite (naturae), 243
extalis (stalis), 116

fabulus, 238

facies, 212 n.l

facio, 3, 143, 204, 215, 221

260

Index

factum, 204
falcula, 24
falx, 24

farciminalis, 244
farcio, 139
fascinum, 63—4
fatigo, 196

fellator, 124, 127, 131, 132, 135
fellatrix, 131

fello, 2, 126, 130-2, 133, 135, 214,
220, 226, 227
femina, 116
feminal, 93—4, 215
feminium, 93 n.3
femur, 51, 92, 93,180
ferio, 148
fessus, 196
festino, 144, 176
fibrae, 99
ficus, 15 n.l, 113
filiola, 116
filix, 76
fimus, 234-1
fines, 90
fingo, 138
finis, 143 n.l, 144
fiscus, 75

fisis OJrucns), 61, 98, 228 n.2
fissum, 95
fluxus (uentris), 241
foculus, 86

fodio, 150, 151-2, 220, 221, 227

folliculus, 75, 88

follis, 28, 75

foria, 240

forica, 241

forio, 240-1

foriolus, 240

fossa, 85-6, 113, 221

fossor, 151

fouea, 86

foueo, 208

frenum, 74

frico, 146 n.l, 184, 208
frictrix, 184
frictura, 184
fruor, 198
funda, 22

fundus, 84, 108, 219
furtum, 43, 167-8, 215, 225
futuo, 2, 3, 11 n.3, 66, 116, 118-22,
133,135, 214, 220, 221, 227
fututio, 120
fututor, 122, 124

fututrix, 122

gaesum, 21

gaudium, 197—8

gemini, 68, 228

genitabilis, 55 n.5

genitale (- ia ), 54, 57-8, 69, 221, 227

genius, 58 n.3 (= genitale)

gesatus, 21

gladius, 20, 21, 219

glandula, 72

glans, 29, 72, 138, 228

glubo, 24, 74, 168, 208, 220

gremium, 77, 92, 219, 220

gurgulio, 33

guttur, 33, 115, 219

habeo, 187
habus (for uasus), 42
haereo, 181-2
hasta, 17, 19-20, 74
hiatus, 95-6
holus, 29
hortulus, 84

hortus, 84, 96, 113, 228, 229
humus, 24, 85
hymenaei, 160

iaceo, 177
ianua, 89
ico (ictus), 148
ictus, -us, 148-9
He, 50-1

impatientia ueneris, 57 (concrete)

impetus, 159

impleo, 207

impono, 207

impudicus, 128, 132

imum, 47

inbulbito, 172

inclinabiliter, 137, 192

inclino, 192,193

incuno, 239

incurro, 176,191

incurso, 191

incuruo, 191

ineo, 122, 190, 206

inequito, 165

inermis, 21

iners, 46

inferior (pars), 95
infima (pars), 95
inflatio, 250
inforo, 150, 219

Index

261

ingredior, 176

inguen, 16, 20 n.l, 47-8, 86, 221,
224, 230
inhaeresco, 182
inhonesta, 56
iniungo, 207
iniuria, 198, 199
inludo, 200
inmeio, 142
inprolis, 68
inquino, 199, 239
inruo, 191
inscendo, 206
insilio, 206
instrumentum, 43
insulto, 200
intactus, 186
integer, 186
intemperantia, 222 n.2
intendo, 46

intercutitus , 146 n.3,147
interdicta, 56
interfeminium, 93
interiora, 95
intingo (digitum), 208
intro, 176
inurino, 247
inutilis, 46
iocor, 161-2, 227
iocus, 161-2

irrumabiliter, 125, 137 n.l
irrumatio, 125
irrumator, 124, 125, 130
irrumo, 2, 3, 23, 24, 125-30, 133,
134, 214, 220, 226, 227
ischuria, 249
iugum fero, 207-8
iungo, 179

labor, 157 (with n.2)
labra, 99-100
lacuna, 86

laecasin, 132, 134, 215, 228
laetamen, 237 n.l, 238-9, 240
laeto, 239

lae.ua (manus), 209
lambo, 136,140 n.2
landica, 97-8
landicosa, 46, 97-8
langueo, 46
lassitudo, 1%
lasso, 196
lassus, 196
latine (loqui), 80

lotus, 49, 90, 108, 180
laxo, 173
laxus, 46, 173
legitima, 161
legitimarius, 161 n.l
leo, 34
lepus, 34
leuis, 71

libido, 57 ('penis’), 57 n.2 (’semen’),
188 ('coitus’), 223, 227
ligurio, 140-1
ligurritor, 141
limen, 89

limo (caput), 180, 226
lingo, 134-5, 136, 220
locus, 23 (tutum /.), 45
(+ demonstrative), 54
(l. uerecundiora) 68 (/. genitalia),
61 (l. naturalia, necessaria), 93
(/. muliebres), 94-5, 114 (tutum l.,
uicinis l.), 223, 224
longao, 96
lorum (in aqua), 42
lotiolentus, 248
lotium, 237 n.l, 240, 246-8
luctamen, 158
luctor, 157-8, 227
ludificor, 200
ludo, 162, 223, 225
ludus, 162, 223
lumbulus, 37, 48, 92
lumbus, 48, 92
lusus, 162, 225
luteus, 172, 240
lutum, 237 n.l, 240, 248

machaera, 20, 219, 229
maculo, 199
mala, 71
malacus, 228
malleus, 43
maneo, 178
manus, 209
marisca, 113, 220
mascarpio, 211
masturbator, 209
masturbor, 209-11, 226
mater, 106 n.2 Cwomb7)
matrimonium, 160
matrix, 105-8
meatus, 89

medius, 46-7, 116, 150
meio, 2, 92,142, 232, 242, 245-6
membrum, 46,69, 93, 224

262

Index

menta, 9-10

mentula, 2, 6, 8, 9-12, 36, 66, 133,
134, 135, 214, 220, 226
merda, 2, 221, 233-4
mergo, 192
messis, 24, 85, 155
meto, 155
minctio, 248
minctus, 248
mingo, 2, 92,142, 245-6
misceo, 180-1, 215
mitto, 207
mixtio , 181
mobilis, 195
modi , 161, 177,181
moecha, 133
molitor, 153

molo, 24, 152-3, 168, 219, 227

monobelis, 21

monstrum, 34

morem gero, 164

morigeror, 164 n.7

morigerus, 164 n.8

morior, 159

moror, 178

motus, 195

moueo, 195

mucro, 20

muliebria, 93

mulierem reddo, 195

muliero, 195

munia, 164

munus, 164

muscerda, 238

muto, 2, 62-3, 221

mutonium, 63, 221

mutuniatus, 63

nasus, 35, 98
nates, 31, 115, 159
natrix, 31

natura, 58 (+ genitalis), 59-60, 93
n.3, 116 (+ posterior )
naturale (- ia ), 58 n.3, 60-1, 61
(+ corpus), 215, 227
nauis, 89, 167
necessaria, 61-2, 228
necessitas (corporis), 243
nego, 213 (+ nil)
neruosus, 38

neruus, 21, 25 (neruia), 38, 222 n.2,
224

nodum uirginitatis eripio, 196
nosco, 32-3, 190

nota(uirilis), 70 n.2
notitiam habeo, 190
nox, 178 (+ promitto, etc.)
nubo, 160
nupta, 116
nuptiae, 159-60
nymphe, 98, 228 n.2

obhaeresco, 182
oblingo, 135

obscenum, -a, 52, 54 n.3, 56, 223

obscenus, 35-6

obsequium, 164

occido, 159

ocquinisco, 193, 226

offero, 243

offtciosus, 163

officium, 163-4, 169, 223, 225

oletum facio, 68 (with n.2), 233

olla, 29, 87

ollula, 29, 87

olus, see holus

omnia, 190

onobeli, 21

onos, 21

onus, 57, 71, 243 n.3

opera, 151 (+ do), 157

operosus, 157

opicerda (?), 238

oppedo, 221, 249

opprimo, 182-3

opus, 57 ('penis’), 154,157

ora, 74, 99, 228

orchis, 229

orificium, 108

osculum, 108 (= orificium )

palaestra, 158, 229
palpito (super), 194
palpo, 208

palus, 16, 23, 24, 221
pars, 39, 45, 56 ( tegenda ), 57-8
(genitalis ), 60 ( naturales ), 61
(naturales, necessariae), 69
( genitales ), 70 (uirilis), 77
(infima), 93 ( muliebres ), 93 n.3
(femineae), 95 ( inferior, infima),
115 (postica), 221, 224
particula, 45, 228
pasco, 138
passer, 32-3

pathicus, 123, 133, 190, 228
patientia, 190
potior, 189-90, 223

Index

263

patratio, 143, 226
patro, 142-3, 226
pauimenta, -mentula, 9-10
peccator, 202
peccatum, 202
pecco, 168, 202

pecten, 25 ('penis'), 76 (= kt*£s), 228
*pectiniculus, 77
peculiatus, 44
peculium, 43, 219
pedes (tollo), 192-3
pedicator, 11 n.3, 123-4
pedico, -are, 2, 11 n.3, 123-5, 133,
135, 214, 219, 220, 226, 228
pedico, -onis, 123
peditum, 220, 249
pedo, 2, 112, 220^221,249
pellicula, 73
pellis, 73
pendeo, 57

pendula (membra), 57 n.3
penetro, 151 (conflated with
perpetro )

penis, 3, 35-6, 63, 65, 116, 220, 221,
226, 227
pensilia, 57
perago, 144, 196

percido, 146-7, 168, 212 (+ os), 215,
220

percussor, 147
percussorium, 25, 148
perdepso, 154, 215, 220
pereo, 159
Perfica, 144
perficio, 144, 226
per-foro, 150, 220
perfututor, 124, 154
pergo (+ ad), 176
permingo (-meio?), 142
permolo, 153, 215, 221
pertracto, 187
Pertunda, 148
pert undo, 148
pertunsorium, 25, 148
peruenio, 144
peto, 159, 212 n.l
pet roe, 22, 71
phallus, 64, 228
pilus, 76

pinnacula, 99, 228
pinnae, 99
pipinna, 216-17
pirum, 29
pirus, 29

piscina, 86
plantaria, 76
plectrum, 25
podex, 57,112, 226
podicalis, 112

poena (haec / tertia) manet, 128

polimen (-mentum), 69

poKDio, 69

polluo, 199, 223

ponderosus, 71 n.l

pondus, 51, 71, 243 n.3

porcellana, 82

porcus, 82, 216

possideo, 188

posterior natura, 59, 116

posterio, 67, 115

posteriora, 116

postica pars, 115

potior, 188

praeputium, 73, 209 (+ duco)
pratum, 84, 113, 220, 228
Prema, 182
premo, 182
Priapus, 230

probrum, 6, 11 n.3, 201, 244

proelium, 158, 159

proficiscor, 242

proles, 68

pronus, 192

propero, 144-5

prurio, 188

pubes, 68-9, 76, 224, 228
pudenda, 55, 116
pudibilis, 55
pudicitia, 55, 195-6
pudicus, 128
puella, 116
pugno, 147
pullipremo, 182
pulso, 148
purus, 199
pyga, 75, 229
pyramis, 17, 229

quaestus, 156
-que, 180 ('coitus' ?)

radius (uirilis), 15, 23
radix, 24, 27, 219
rado, 168

ramus, 17, 24, 28, 77, 219, 227
rapio, 175
rapto, 175
raptor, 175

264

Index

raptum, 175
recutio, 148

reliquiae (alicariae), 153
remitto(stercus), 243
renes, 92

requisite (naturae), 242
res, 62, 203
resupino, 192
resupinus, 192
rigidus, 46, 103
rigor, 46 n.l, 59
rima, 95
rixa, 158
rodo, 139, 141
rumor, 212 n.3
rumpo, 151

rutabulum, 22, 23, 24,141

salacitas, 206
salaputium, 2, 65
salax, 206
salio, 206

saltus, 24, 84, 113, 219

sanctissima pars corporis, 212 n.l

saprophago, 139

satisfacio, 197, 215

saucio, 127, 152

saura, 31

scalpo, 149, 219

scando, 205, 219

scapus (capus), 17-19, 23

scelus, 202

sceptrum, 17

scindo, 83, 150, 219

scortum, 49, 217

scrobis, 86

scrotum, 74—5

scybalum, 244

secedo, 242

secessus, 242

secretum, -a, 56, 116

sedeo, 144, 165, 241

sedes, 115, 228

sella, 241

semino, 164

semita, 89

seruio, 163, 223

Sesquiculus, 111

sex us, 62

sicula, 21, 220

sinistra (manus), 209

sinus (muliebris, etc.), 90-1, 228

sira, 31

soUicito, 168,184-5, 200, 208

sono, 43

sopio, 2, 34, 64-5
sordeo, 199
specus, 85
spiritus, 250
spurcitia, 239
spurcus, 199

spurium, 96-7, 215, 216, 228
stalis (= extalis), 116
stercus, 234-7, 239
stranguria, 249
strepitus, 250

strutheum, 31-2,44, 173, 214, 216,
219, 228
stuprator, 201
stupro, 201

stuprum, 170, 200-1, 223
subactor, 155
subactus, 155
subeo, 191
subigito, 155, 156
subigo, 4, 155-6
Subigus, 155
subpilo (?), 43
subulo (?), 43
sucerda, 238
suffiscus, 75
sugo, 131-2
sulcus, 24, 28, 84
sum (+ cum), 177, 226
8umma ('mouth’), 47, 212
superincuruo, 191-2
supersemino, 154
superuenw, 207
supinatus, 192
supinus, 192
surgo, 57

syllaba, 39 (prior, breuis )
Symplegas, 114, 220

tacto, 187
tactus, 186
tango, 185-6, 208
telum, 17, 19, 20
temero, 199
temo, 23, 39
tempto, 156 n.2

tendo (and derivatives), 21, 40, 46

teneo, 181,187

tentigo, 103—4

tergeo, 185

tergum, 115

tergus, 73

terminus, 16, 23, 24, 77, 219

Index

265

tero, 183, 219

testiculus, 67-8, 221

testis, 67, 70 n.l, 212, 219, 227

testo, 67

thyrsus, 28, 229

titus, 32,44,214

toi/o, 167, 192-3 (pedes)

totum, 161

trabs, 23, 220

tracto, 186, 208

traicio, 160

trina, terna (Trinity’), 40
trua, 23, 77, 219
trudo, 146 n.l, 208
truso, 146 n.l, 208
tumor, 59
tundo, 148
turpia, 55-6

turpitudo, 57 (concrete), 201
turtur, 32, 44, 214
turturilla, 32
tutulatus, 23

uagina, 20, 115, 219
ualuae, 115
uanno, 153

uas, 41-2, 43, 71,88,219
uasatus, 42, 43

uasculum, 42, 43, 88 (= xoptov),
216

uectis, 15-16, 23
uector, 167
uelanda, 54 n.3, 56
uelocius, 144
uena, 35
uenio, 176

uenter, 100-101, 107
uentositas, 250
uentus, 250

uenus, 57 ('penis’), 98 ('clitoris’),
188-9 ('coitus’), 221
uerbera, 149

uereeunda (-iora, etc.), 54
uereeundia , 54-5
uerenda, 53-4, 59, 227, 228
ueretrum, 27 (with n.l), 52-3, 59,
215, 227, 228
uermiculus, 33—4
uerpa, 2, 12-14, 36, 129, 133, 139,
170, 214, 215, 219, 220, 226

uerpus, 13
uertex, 72
uesica, 91-2, 221
uexo, 200
uia, 89

uicibus (in uices), 166 (with n.2)
uindemio, 155
uiolo, 199, 223

uir, 70

uirga, 14-15, 23
uirginalfe), 94, 215
uirginalis, 94, 108, 227
uirginitas, 195-6
uirgula, 15
uirilia, 15, 69-70
uirilis, 70 (pars), 70 n.2 (nota)
uirilitas, 69-70

uis, 198, 199, 219, 223
uiscera, 95, 116, 224
uissio, 249

uitalia, 95

uitio, 199

uitium, 199

ulcus, 40

umbilicus, 92

umeri (medical term), 108

uoluptas, 197

uolutatio, 194

uolutor, 193-4, 223

uomer, 24

uoro, 138,139

urina, 92, 142, 246-8

urinator, 247

urinor, 247

uro, 114

usura, 198

usurarius, 198

usus, 189

uter, 88-9, 100, 107
uterus, 100-108
utilis, 46
utor, 198
uulnificus, 152
uulnus, 152
uultus, 212 n.l
uulua, 101-108
uxorem facio, 160

xurikilla (?), 65

266

Index
2. Greek

a-y-yeCov, 88
cni&ovis, 82 n.2

aiBoiov, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 90

atfXD (t& ctk€Xti), 193

aurxuvTi, 201

aKavOa, 98

dfjLpujy, 86-7

dp.pux (KopeCas), 196

dyaPaivco, 206, 218

aya^KaCov, 61-2
ayatpiflbi, 183
avSpeia, 69 n.2
dvSpopatfai, 205 n.l
diroKpivoj, 242, 243
airoXorixo, 198
airotrartu), 242
filTTU), 185
dpird£u>, 175
dpuKxipu>s, 154
on)xV)y, 108
d4>e8pa>y, 242
d4>d8*up^», 242
d<t>o5evu>, 242
a<J>o8oq, 242
d<t>po8uria, 189
’A4 >po8Ctt], 189
ailraixrroq, 186

Paiyw, 205
PaXayos, 72
Papadpov, 86 n.l
pao-iq, 108
PaffTafa), 167
PaT€<y, 205 n.l
piaapos, 199
PiPdJco, 205, 206

Pivtw, 3, 120 n.l, 121, 218, 219, 220
pXiix<i, 76

PoXitov (-oq), 238, 244
Popcra, 75

7ap.€(o, 3, 159

7apT|Tiaw, 160

7C7Vopai (p.€Ta), 177
717VUK7KU), 190

&aKT0Xios, 112, 114-15
Bapros, 72
BtXia, 39
S«X<i)dKLoy, 82
Scpfia, 73, 74

Sepoj, 168 n.2
Sidppoia, 244
SCSupLoi, 68
Sopu, 21
8pdu>, 204
SuCTtvTtpia, 244
SwoupCa, 244

67Xos, 19

I8pa,115

EKKpCyo), 242

tKpo<t>ea>, 141

eijotpxxpTdv(i>, 202

tita7op.ai, 205

empaivto, 205, 206

e’mKXiyoirdXti, 158

ep70v, 157, 203 (KvrrpiBoq ep7a)

tptpLvSos, 26, 28, 139

£pxop.ai, 176

eoxapa, 86, 87

edyeioy, 83

Eopiitas, 114

euaTopdvyJ, 16

e\u>, 187

■nPr), 76
-HKio, 176

di77dv<o, 185
0pi7Kos, 17 n.l
dipa, 89

i'irn68apos, 166 n.3
tiriros, 30
ioxds, 113,139

KotTaKXCyopai, 177
KOtTamrywv, 132-3
koivXos, 26, 27, 72
tcepas, 11 n.l, 22
KCpKOS, 35
kt)hos, 84, 229
KIV£(1>, 195
Kivryudii), 218
KXep.p.a, 168
KXtpayos, 86
KXtvoirdXiri, 158
KOKKU), 216

koXttos (TvyatKtios), 90-1, 228
KpT|p.VOS, 99
Kpidry, 26

Index

267

tcpoupa, 145
Kpowo, 145
KTtlS, 76
■cuvoScaiti), 74
KwdoKOfxini, 98
Kucrdos, 12, 81, 220
Kvun>, 30

XaiKa^u, 132, 218
XaiKacrrpia, 218
XaXov, 216
Xtipiov, 84
Xeorflid{<i), 202
Xoitas, 86-7
76

paxaipa, 20-1
pipos, 45

M-TfTpa, 103 n.2, 105, 106

pi7iupc., 180-1

pi^is, 181 n.l
poixos, 142

poptov, 45, 58 (xtvvr|TiKd popia)
puK-ps, 11 n.l, 26
pLtjXXa), 152
pvproy, 98

vevpov, 38

i*up<S8ts CT<ipux, 38, 46
vtip^n), 98
vu$, 178

^voKwdamrrri, 219
^C<J)oq, 21

oi'iaia, 238
ovis, 238
opo(laT«a), 205

o^tia, 21
ottXov, 16
omit*), 160
OpVTTtO, 151
opxis, 229
oaxtws, 48, 92
crupa, 35
CKtus, 30
oxeuu, 205, 207

ira7KctTamry<ov, 133
ira{)T)pa, 190
iraOiKtvopai, 190

iraC^ti), 162
irapacmiTT)s, 67
trapdtvCa, 196

TTcicrxa), 190, 218
irtos, 12, 218, 219
•rrepSopai, 249
trripL<:, 75
irXevp6v>, 108
irveupa, 250
•rrpd7pa, 203
TTpdTTtU, 204
irpodupov, 89
TrpoKpouu), 145
itptoKTos, 219, 220
imp\> 7 ii)pa, 99
ittuxtis, 179
mryiri, 229
mrdpf)v, 108
irvXeiiv, 89
irijXri, 89

paflSos, 14, 15
poiraXurpos, 16
poiraXov, 16

CTaKavSpoi;, 87
joko?, 87
aavis, 89, 115
cravpa, 30, 216
(Ttifxx, 74
otkivos, 41
<tku}k)S, 21
(TKvPaXov, 244
CTKiupCa, 234
<7ntCp to, 154
oropiov, 108
cnry7t7vopai, 177
au7Ka0€v5<i), 177
cn>7KaTaKXivo|Aai, 177
cnryHXivopai, 177
mryicuXCopai, 193
cn^iryia, 179
crvKOV, 113-14
crvp.Trtn£u>, 162
awavairavopai, 177
(ruvStopos, 179
ovv&vdiw (-opai), 205
cjwowCa, 177
ouvoiKJid^a), 177
crdropas, 238
oxfipa, 179
crxurpa, 95

crd>pa (i'tvpu>8*s a.), 38, 46

TaOpos, 30
Ttpvio, 149
TCpiropai, 198

268

Index

xpaxTikos, 108

XtiXos, 100

TpijJaj, 183

XtXiStov, 28, 82

TpUITQO), 150

XvaOs, 76

TpuKTiq, 152

XoipCSiov, 82

Xoipoq, 82

uj3p£{<i), 200

XOpiev, 88

vvis, 24

Xpaoptai, 198

unopivTiTidu), 218

Xpfipa, 203 (to deiov x )

vnoupycto, 163

Xpoi£u>, 185, 224

XpuaCov, 216

4>aXXds, 64
<)>Xet|>, 35

yurpa, 86 , 87

<J>OlVlKl£tO, 202

601 Taco, 176

4 >ove\Ki), 159
<]nicris, 59

iJ/atKv, 185
iJkoXt], 13
ilxoXos, 13

XaXati), 172, 173

topes, 108

3. General

abstract (for concrete), 55, 57,

69-70, 97

'adjoining parts’, 47-51, 91-2
aggression (sexual, verbal), 6, 77,
124, 128, 130, 133—4
agricultural imagery, 23, 24-5,

26-9, 82-5, 113-14, 152-5, 157
'altar’, 87

amulets (phallic), 49, 63
anatomical metaphors, 33, 35-8, 98
animal metaphors, 29-34, 82
animals, terms appropriate to, 50,
69, 101, 104, 108, 155, 167, 205-8
Anna Perenna, 5-6, 7, 225
apotropaic obscenity, 4—6
Apuleius, 21, 29, 57, 58, 86-7, 93,

94, 149, 150, 157, 158, 159, 192,
196,208-9

[Apuleius], spurcum additamentum,
20 n.l, 47 n.l, 58 n.3, 72 n.l, 73,
142, 187, 209, 229-30
Archilochus, 11, 220
architectural metaphors, 17 n.l
Amobius, 36, 53, 55 n.5, 62, 64, 67,
68, 69, 75, 86, 137, 151, 179, 193
Atellane farce, 3,14, 20, 23, 28, 66,
77, 123, 140,141,147,149,152-3,
175, 219, 231, 240

Augustine, 5, 17, 36, 42, 64, 91, 188
Augustus, 11 n.3, 26, 65,121,123,
214, 225

Ausonius, 19-20, 25, 28, 30, 34, 39,
74,76,85, 89, 92,95, 112, 114,
119, 135, 136, 139, 148, 151, 152,
153, 159, 168, 172, 220-1

’bag’, 75, 87-8
'bark’, 74, 168
T>e with’, 177
Biblical parody, 24-5
birds, 31-3
'body’, 46, 69

botanical metaphors, 26-9, 72, 74,
76

’bow, bow string’, 21-2
brothel slang, 32, 83, 173, 215
'burst’, 51,150, 151
buttocks, 47, 115, 149

cacemphata, 28, 97, 249
Cadiz dancers, 194 (with n.2), 225
Caesar, C. Iulius, 11 (with n.3), 23,
128, 132, 200, 203
caiques, 14, 26-7, 28, 29, 45, 53-4,
59, 62, 68, 72, 76, 84, 90, 99, 100
n.l, 108,113,181,228,242
castration, 46, 49, 69, 70 n.l
Catullus, 2, 10-12,13, 21, 23, 26,
29, 32-3, 46, 47, 51, 62, 64, 65,
77,81, 110, 119, 120, 123, 124,
125, 127, 128, 129-30, 131, 132,
133, 134-5, 138, 139, 142,145-6,

Index

269

148, 154, 162,167, 168, 186, 188,
192, 197, 214, 215, 219-20, 231,
232

'cave’, 85

Celsus, 26-7, 56, 58, 60-1, 67, 73,

74, 76, 99, 101-2, 103, 104, 114,
189,227,228, 241,242
Chians, 202

children (and obscenity), 5, 216-17
Christian (and Biblical) Latin, 48,
51, 73, 92-3,105,106,162,178,
182,199

Cicero, 6, 9-10, 35, 36, 37, 38 (with
n.2), 59, 66, 67, 80, 97, 114, 118,
140, 147, 153, 157, 162, 163, 186,
188,192, 193, 195, 196-7, 222-3,
237, 244, 249
circumcision, 13
'climb, mount’, 167, 205-6
clitoris, 79, 87, 96, 97-8, 103
'come to’, 176

comedy (see also ’Naevius’, 'Plautus’,
’Terence’), 22, 218-19, 248 (fabula
togata)

'cut’, 147, 149-51
'dactyl’, 39

dancing and sexual intercourse, 194

declamation, 162, 163-4, 175, 222-3

defecation, 2, 231-44

’descriptive’ euphemisms, 57-8

'die’, 159

'dig’, 151-2

'disgrace’, 200-1

'ditch’, 85-6

Domitian, 158, 225

'door’, 89

dreams, 20-1, 30

'duty’, 163-4

'eat’ (metaphor), 50,126,135,

136-41

ejaculation, 142—4
elegy, 163, 224-5
ellipse, 3, 62, 143-^4, 146 n.l, 184
n.l, 202-5, 226, 232
'embrace’, 181
'enter’, 190-1

epic parody (see also 'Ausonius’),
19-20, 21, 25, 26, 28, 34,42, 74,

85

epigram (see also 'Ausonius’,
'Catullus’, 'Martial’,' Priapea ’), 2,
7,10, lln.3, 12, 66, 102, 117,

123, 125, 131, 142, 209, 214,
219-21

erection, 46, 103—4
euphemisms, 3, 44-62, 90-5,

115-16, 170-1, 174-205, 226-7,
241—4

evil eye, 4-6

eyes and sex, 140, 143 n.l
fertility, 5, 6

Fescennine verses, 4-5, 7,11 n.3,
214

'fight’, 158-9
figs, 113-14
'flank', 50

Floralia, 5, 7, 223, 225
foreigners and perversion, 202
foreskin, 73-4

'genitalia' et sim., 57-9, 69
gestures (obscene), 6
glans penis, 72-3
'go to’, 175-6

grammatical parody, 39, 179
Greek influence on Latin, 14-15, 16,
26, 39, 59, 62, 64, 68, 72, 76, 82,
83, 84, 87, 88, 90-1, 98, 99-100,
108, 113-14, 115, 123, 132, 138,
165-6, 167, 169-70, 172-3,180-1,
189, 190, 196, 215, 220, 221, 225,
227-8, 228-30, 242, 244
'grind', 152-3
'groin', 47

'hammer’, 43
'harass’, 200
'have’, 187
'head’, 72
'hearth’, 86

heat of genitalia, 87,114
Historic Augusta, 21, 42, 43, 78,

144, 147,155, 195, 246
homosexuals, homosexuality, 13, 81,
97 (tribades), 116, 121-2
( tribades ), 123, 136-7, 141, 149,
155,156, 163,166 (with nn. 2, 3),
172,190 (tribades), 191,194, 228
Horace, 2,16, 29-30, 35, 36-7, 46,
63, 69, 83, 119, 142, 151, 153, 154,
155, 159, 165, 215, 221, 225, 232,
234

horn, 22

horse racing, 144,166
household objects, 22-3, 86-7

270

Index

impotence, 26, 46, 224
indecent exposure, 5
'insult’, 200

intensive compound verbs, 154, 183,
215

jest, ritualistic, obscene, 4, 6-7,
19-20, 23, 105, 116-17, 124-5,
126-7,128-9,131, 138,192, 195,
219

Jews, 13
'join’, 179-80
'joke’, 161-2

Juvenal, 28, 68, 71, 73, 75, 82, 86,
91-2, 95, 97,98, 103, 112, 113,
116,136,137,139—40, 142,149,
151, 156, 172, 176, 192, 194, 207,
221, 232, 246

'kidneys’, 92
'kill’, 159
'knead’, 153—4
'know’, 32, 190

labia, 60, 87, 99-100
Lavinium, 5

leather, leather working, 40, 42, 75,
87, 156

'left hand’, 209
letter puzzles, 38-9, 220
Liber, 5
'lie with’, 177

loan-words, 31-2, 61, 72, 83, 96-7,
98, 134, 172-3, 190, 215, 228-9,
229-30, 244

logic, language of, 39-40
'loins’, 48
'loosen’, 172-3

Lucilius, 24, 26, 30, 31, 63, 71, 83,
87-8, 145, 153, 209, 221, 235, 236,
238

Lucretius, 24, 46, 57-8, 83, 95, 144,
149, 179, 184-5, 189, 194
lyre playing, 25

'manhood’, 69-70
’manure’, 238-9
'marry’, 159-61

Martial, 2, 7,8, 9,12,16-17, 29, 33,
40-1, 46, 47, 55, 63, 66, 71, 72,

81, 84, 86, 96, 98, 110, 113, 114,
118-19, 121-2, 123, 126, 127, 128,
129, 131, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140,
142, 144, 148, 149-50, 152, 154,

157, 160,172, 176, 183, 184, 187,
194, 199, 200, 202, 203, 204, 209,
212, 214, 216, 217, 220, 225, 231,
233, 250

masturbation, 122, 144, 146 n.l,

161, 181, 183, 184, 186, 208-11
medical language, 3,14, 15, 26-7,
36, 40-1, 45, 50, 52-3, 60-1, 67,
72, 73, 88, 90-1, 95,98, 99, 101-9,
112, 115, 181, 189, 227-8, 241,
243, 244, 248-9, 250
Medieval Latin, 15, 22, 24-5, 29, 30
n.3, 37 n.l, 39-40, 43, 47 n.l, 63
n.3, 71, 75, 84-5, 149, 151-2,
154-5, 180, 204,229-30
metaphors, 3, 10, 1 4 - 44 , 82-90,
112-15, 129-30,131,133,138-70,
227, 229

metonymy, 3,170-202, 205, 233
metrical terminology, 39
military metaphors, 156, 159, 196
mime, 3, 5, 31-2, 66, 83, 123, 146,
150, 219, 225, 231, 240
movements (sexual), 48, 136-7, 144,
193-5

Mulomedicina Chironis, 17-19, 27,
30, 53, 61, 74, 94, 107-8, 161,
185-6, 207, 227, 237, 239, 243,

244

musical metaphors, 25,148
Mutunus Tutunus, 5, 17, 55, 62-3

Naevius, 22

nautical metaphors, 25, 167
'necessary parts’, 61-2
nicknames, cognomina, 10,12, 63,
111

nonsense word?, 65
nose (as sexual symbol), 35 (with
n.2)

nursery words, 82, 216-17, 231

obscenities, basic, 1-2, 4, 9-14,
35-6, 80-1, 110-11, 118-35,
219-20, 221, 226, 231-4
onomatopoeic words, 249
oral sex, 125-32, 134-6, 139-41,
180-1,183, 184, 186,192, 199,
200,211-13,222-3
oratory (see also ’Cicero’), 11, 56,
213 n.l, 222-3, 245, 249-50
orgasm, 142-3,188
Oscans, 202
’oven’, 86

Index

Ovid, 21, 30, 45, 46, 55, 71, 95, 144,
157, 161, 163,165, 166, 167,
169-70,177, 186, 189,198, 207,
209, 224, 225

pars pro toto, 11, 13, 36, 42, 65, 66,
86, 116

'parts of nature’ et sim., 60-1
'parts of shame’, 51-7
'path’, 89

Persius, 33, 68, 76, 103, 115, 137,
142, 222, 232, 246
personification, 29-30, 67, 68, 72,
105

'persuasive’ designations, 170,
196-202

Perusine sling bullets, 11 n.3, 110
Petronius, 10, 21, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42,
43, 45, 62, 63-4, 66, 68, 71,
111-12, 146, 147, 153,159, 160,
161, 164, 165, 183-4, 186, 196,
197, 198, 200, 202, 204, 215, 216,
232, 248

Phaedrus, 35, 46, 94, 110, 232 n.2,
233,234

phallus (representations of, as
apotropaic, etc.), 4, 5, 63-4, 77
phonetic suggestiveness, 137-8
'pig\ 82,139, 216
plants, 26-8

Plautus, 3, 20, 22, 27, 33, 41-2, 43,
47, 49, 77, 84, 100, 113, 126, 150,
151, 154, 156, 157, 160, 174, 176,
183, 198, 199, 201, 203, 204, 205,
207-8, 219, 248, 250
'play’, 161-2
'pleasure’, 196-8

Pliny the Elder, 54, 58, 88-9, 101,
104,115
'plough’, 154
’ploughshare’, 24

Pompeian graffiti, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
25, 29, 47, 63, 64, 81, 87, 97, 110,
119-20, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126,
127, 129, 131, 133, 134, 135, 137,
139, 146, 166, 173,178, 182,190,
231

'pot’, 86-7
'press’, 182

Priapea, Priapic poetry, 2, 9,12,13,
16-17, 21, 30, 31, 37-8, 38-9, 42,
56, 57, 63, 64, 67 n.4, 70 n.2, 80,
84, 86, 87, 95, 96, 97, 98, 110,

271

119, 123, 126, 128, 146, 148, 150,
151,172, 183, 194, 220, 231
Priapus, 5 n.4, 16, 17, 28
'private property’, 43
prostitutes, prostitution, 5, 32, 83,

97, 110-11, 120, 131, 156,173,

174, 176, 178, 187,194, 203
proverbs, formulae, etc., 29, 34, 42,
150, 157, 203, 212
pubic hair, 76-7
puns, 27, 41, 42,43, 67

rectum, 116
'ride’, 165-6, 206
'ring’, 112, 114
rowing, 167
'rub’, 183-5

Sallust, 36, 56, 242
satire (see also 'Horace', 'Juvenal’,
'Persius’), 2, 36, 47, 66, 68, 83,

102, 131, 142, 221-2
Saturnalia, 7
satyriasis, 40-1

scale (of amatory activities), 185,

204

schemata, 136, 146 n.l, 165, 173,

177,181,183—4,191-3
scholastic metaphors, 38-9
scrotum, 74-6
semen, 29, 57 n.2, 92, 142
senate (and obscenity), 11 (with
n.3), 200, 222-3
'serve’, 'service’, etc., 163-4
ships, 25, 89, 167
'sickle’, 24
'side’, 49
'sinew’, 38

size, weight of mentula, 71, 78
slang, 14, 32, 138, 139, 170, 214-15,
220

'sleep with’, 177
snakes, 30-1
'sow’, 154

specialisation, 3, 38, 44-7, 94-5,

115, 170

'stake’, 15,16, 23
'strike, hit’ et sim., 145-9
'syllables’, long and short, 39
syllogisms, 39-40

Tacitus, 93, 200, 201, 242
'tail’, 35-7

'tears’, 'sobbing’, 30 (with n.3)

272

Index

Terence, 92, 162, 185, 187,199, 200,
203, 218-19

Tertullian, 46, 86, 88, 90, 105, 140,
146,184, 188, 191
testicles, 41, 51, 63, 58 n.5, 66-71,
212

'theft’, 167-8
threats, see 'aggression’

’tiller’, 25
tools, 41-3

topographical imagery, 90,114

'touch’, 185-6

trades, 152

'Trinity’, 40

triumphs, 4, 225

'twins’, 68

urination, 2, 142, 245-9

vagina, 60-1, 86, 87, 89, 90-1,92,
95, 96, 103 (with n.4)

Varro, 25, 52, 82, 101, 177, 195,
203, 240
’vein’, 35
Vespasian, 6, 19

veterinary Latin, 17-19, 53, 61, 67,
108, 206-7, 232-3, 234, 236, 240,
246, 248

violence, sexual, 198-9

weakening of obscenities, 2, 119,
124-5,130,131,132-4, 215, 226,
233

weapons, 19-22
weddings, 4-5, 7
womb, 87, 88, 92, 94 n.2,100-9
women (and obscenity), 5, 7, 120,
121,216,217
’work’, 156-7
'worm’, 33—4
’wound’, 152
wrestling, 157-8